Untrusting Wings
by ProtogirlT
Summary: After getting a distress signal from Antarctica, The Preventers find that the old base housed a secret laboratory that did unlawful experiments on people. However, the three that they rescue run away to protect the ones that are in real danger.
1. Chapter 1

_Escape from Antarctica_

"Keep running!" The four ran breathlessly down the hall. Their lab coats flap like capes as they ran. "Come on. In here, hurry." A woman in her early forties continued to urge the three teenagers on. Just as the door opened, several solders greet them at the door.

"Trying to help our new weapons escape again are you?"

"I won't let you do it Dekim! I won't let you do anymore experiments on these children anymore!"

"I'm afraid, Robin, that's not your choice to make, and also this is the last time you'll see them alive. Get rid of her and collect the experiments. They are very valuable to our cause."

"You will not touch them!" Robin screamed before she changed into a filose rapture. Her violent scream echoed through the facility. The guards took out their guns and started to shoot the dinosaur when she drew closer.

"ROBIN!" the teenagers screamed in unison. The youngest of the group raised her hand to help. It changed into a giant claw made from what looked like pure metal. She extended it quickly to the first soldier she saw. She watched calm eyed as the fear grew in the eyes of the young solder not much older then the oldest teenager in the group. Robin stopped the giant claw with her jaws. The shooting stopped and she changed back.

"Fox," She said weakly getting the youngest attention. "You mustn't hurt people."

"But they were—"

"I know, but you mustn't do anything so coldhearted." Fox gasps hearing a gunshot ring out. She sits up in bed drenched in sweat.

"It must have been a dream," she said to herself, but instead of going back to bed, she gets up and quickly changes her wet clothes before exiting her room. She sniffs the air as she slowly goes down the hall. She stops hearing the running of feet coming toward her down the hall. Terrified, she opens the nearest door and unknowingly slams it shut. She leans on the door trying not to cry.

"Fox? Fox is that you?" asks a curious voice. She gasps seeing the glow of two tiger eyes looming over her. "It's ok, Fox. It's just me, Samantha. I won't hurt you," she says turning on a lamp." Samantha wears animal print pajamas to match her brown hair.

"They're coming for us," Fox cries shaking terribly in her black pajamas. A warm smile greets her face somewhat pale Chinese face. Her black eyes watch Samantha.

"It's ok. I'll go check it out and then I'll find Jeff," Samantha says playing with her long black hair a moment before going to the door. "Stay here."

"But—"

"Shh, I'll be ok. Remember what I am." She opens the door and leaves the room leaving the girl alone and frightened. She moves to the beds and is about to sit on it until she hears a tiger roar which sends a chill down her spin. She finds herself frozen after hearing voices she didn't recognize. She quickly ducks under the bed hearing the door open. She hears them enter the room. She tries to calm her terrified breathing as they come closer.

"This old cell looks like a child's room," says a female voice. "But why would they have children here and a tiger guarding the entrance to the rooms."

"We'll just have to keep looking," says a male voice. "The transmission said there were people in distress and needed help. Something's not right here."

"They're probably just afraid to come out because they see we have guns like the guards outside." The woman moves closer to the beds and stops hearing a gasp. "It's ok. We're here to help you." She kneels beside the bed.

"You're lying! You're here to get rid of us like they did with the others," Fox says in a shaky voice as the woman looks under the bed. "Go, go away. You already hurt my friend Samantha!" For a moment, she's speechless because of the eerie bright blue glow from the girl's eyes.

"…Samantha, is she your friend?" she asks going somewhat under the bed to get a closer look at the girl.

"Yes, she's my best friend in the whole universe."

"The whole universe, huh. That's some friend." She's taken aback by the vicious growl that escapes from the girl's lips.

"Go away, so I can help my friend!"

"Just calm down you're friend is perfectly fine," she says keeping calm. Before she could say another word, the woman feels something wrap around her arm pulling her towards Fox.

"You better not be lying to me," Fox says coldly. "I can easily rip you to shreds, woman." Another growl sends a chill down the woman's spine seeing Fox face to face. Fox releases the frightened woman. Just a she tries to move from under the bed, Fox attacks, but the woman's partner stops the attack.

"Calm down! We're not here to hurt you." Terrified, she struggles in his powerful grip. "Are you ok, Fire," he asks seeing the look on her face.

"Yes, but barely. It seems our little friend here is more then just a little girl who doesn't trust us."

"I will never trust another human because of what they've done to me and my family besides I know you just came here to get rid of the last of us."

"You have us all wrong. We're here to get you three out of here," Fire says. "And to, shut this place down."

"I doubt you can do that. They have more then one operation's base some of which are in the colonies."

"What did you say?" Fire didn't receive her answer because the alarm went off surprising everyone. Fox gets loose from Fire's partner and runs to the window. "Wait, come back!" she yells as Fox jumps through the window. "I'll go get the kid, Wind. You go get that tiger loaded." She didn't give her partner a chance to answer before going after her.

"Fire wait!" He runs to the window. "FIRE! What is she thinking going after that kid?" A tiger roar freezes him. He turns around as the tiger leaps on him. The power of the leap sends the two flying through the window. Gunshots ring though the snow as they roll continually into a giant snowball. The snowball finally stops among other large snowballs and a giant truck.

"Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty, we're not done with you yet!" says one of the guards coldly. "I need a new fur coat!" He starts shooting seeing something white move in the snow. Samantha leaps on a tree, but he shoots one of her legs making it impossible for her to get away. "Say goodbye little Kitty!" he says raising his gun.

"I don't think so."

"What?" He turns around to see Wind behind him. "AH!" Wind knocks him out.

"I though we were rescuing three kids not three kids and a tiger," says a new woman with eyes of Chinese decent but speaks English very well.

"I am one of the kids you're looking for," Samantha says changing to her human self now shaking from the cold more than he bullet wound. They look at her stunned. "I just wish I knew where my cousin is. He should be able to get Fox to believe that you're here to help us."

"Who's this cousin of yours?" the woman asks as Wind picks her up and quickly gets her in the van. Inside she sees the woman clearly. She has twisted blonde hair in pigtails from the back and blue Chinese eyes.

"It's Jeff, he's the one who most likely called you to come get us," Samantha says getting a good look at Wind. He has long white hair and serious blue eyes.

"So Jeff is his name. He told us your exact location though I wasn't expecting this."

"Nobody was expecting this…" Samantha says softly. "Please hurry and get Fox back before she does something drastic."

"Drastic? What do you mean, drastic?"

"She might try and blow herself up with this base again."

"AGAIN!" the two say in unison. Without another word, Wind leaves the van in a hurry. His heart beats drastically as he runs down a hill of snow. He finds himself looking down at many fallen men. He goes to the first one to get a better look. He goes to the first one and feels for a pulse. He immediately goes to another and gets the same result.

"They're all unconscious," he says to himself. He reaches for the guard's gun but to his astonishment it falls apart in his hand. "That's impossible. Only something sharpened with a lazar or a lazar itself could cut through guns of this caliber." The sound of shooting in the distance stops his assessment of the situation. He runs and soon finds his partner. He quickly makes his way down to where she is and finds her talking to what looks like an exact replica of him.

"I'll handle this. The last thing we need is you getting hurt." He digs deeper in the hole Fox dug. "Calm down, we're not going to hurt you," the Wind replica says. Before he could dig anymore, Fox leaps on him pinning him to the ground. She raises her claw shaped hand ready to puncture his scalp.

"ZECHS!" She watches in amazement as his hair stops Fox's claw.

"I'm right here, Noin," Zechs says stopping her before she could shoot her gun.

"Then who's."

"Jeff…? You idiot!" Fox screams getting their attention. "I could have killed you!"

"Now I see." Noin looks at him. "He's the one who called us."

"Even if you wanted to, you know my tail can out do your claws any day," he says in Winds voice before laughing. His laughter is shortened as she claws Jeff in the face. "AH! What the hell was that for?"

"That's for being cocky, jerk besides how else am I going to tell you two apart." She sits up after getting off him. He feels his face as he sits up and realizes his face is bleeding.

"What's the matter with you? How am I going to trick the guards if I have a large scratch across my face?"

"Like I said, to tell you apart."

"This better not leave a scar," Jeff says annoyed standing. A gunshot rings though the air hitting Jeff in the shoulder knocking him over.

"JEFFREY!" Fox screams as she runs to him. A helicopter comes into view stopping Wind and Fire from getting any closer to the two. "Jeffery, are you ok." The helicopter's propellers drown out the sound of Jeff's hollers of pain.

"You might as well give up Fox, Jeffery. We told you already that there's no way out even if you did call for help." The voice emanates from the helicopter speaker. Several people jump down from the sides of the hill to where they are while two come from the helicopter. Most of which have guns of their own. "Put down your weapons, and we'll spare your lives." They do as their told. "Bring the experiments back to their holding tanks."

"NO, I can't go back!" Jeff says extending his hair knocking three guards of the little ridge they are all standing on. "AH!" Another shot is fired only this time it hits his neck. Again, large volumes of pain run through his body. He reaches for his neck and pulls out the second tranquilizer dart as the helicopter lands nearby. "AH!"

"Change back Chameleon," says the guard that kicks him in the stomach.

"Leave him alone," Zechs calls but the others stop his advance. The guard looks at her.

"You wouldn't be saying that once you see what he looks like," the guard says coldly. "Right Chameleon? How about you show him your true colors?"

"How about you don't and say you did," Fox says stopping his foot with her own before making him fall on his butt. She picks up his tranquilizer gun off the ground sending fear through the young guards. "I'm going to give you one chance to get out of here before I start firing." Just as she cocks the gun they all bolt up the hill. She starts shooting each one and as she does they fall back down. They all cry out in extreme pain. She turns to the guard she tripped earlier.

"No, no please don't shoot me!" he says terrified scooting away from her.

"It doesn't matter anyways," she says coldly. "You're all cowards for praying on the weak. You're not worth my time." She throws down the gun.

"Actually you should have kept the gun, Fox," he says with a confident smile. She turns to see two giant men behind her in lab coats. She backs up some as they advance closer to her.

"Dr. Salamander… and Dr. Conner." She looks at the two men uneasy. "This just became a lot harder."

"You should have behaved yourself young lady," says the man who is also the voice from the helicopter. "As always I have to be the one to put you back in confinement."

"Run NOW and take Jeff with you!" she says seeing Zechs and Noin come to Jeff's aid.

"What? We can't leave without you," Noin says shocked.

"Go Now!" she screams before running forward for a head on attack but she's only slapped away like a fly. She recovers quickly from the roll after hitting the ground. "HA!" She sidekicks the doctor, but he grabs her leg and holds her upside down. Jeff now only somewhat mobile now uses his hair still to trip the scientist still in disguise as Zechs.

"Ah! You rotten boy! Is that anyway to treat your uncle?" he asks coldly dropping Sophia.

"You're no uncle of mine," he says coldly. "An uncle wouldn't use his nephew and niece as a Ginny pig for his experiments." The second scientist that didn't do anything but watch now starts to move toward Jeff and the others. With the last of his strength, he pushes himself up. "You two… have to get away… for Samantha's sake."

"We're not going to leave you two," Fire says grabbing a gun.

"You… don't understand. They're… genetically enhanced with animals. You're no match for them. Please… do as I say," he begs as the scientist makes it to them.

"AAHHH!" The scream from the scientist resembles an elephant's scream which seems to shake the ice. "YOU filthy human! I'll kill you!" he yelled going for Noin as her gun finally ran out of darts.

"NO Leave her alone!" Jeff screams pushing her away with his hair right before he grabs Jeff's hair. Jeff grits his teeth as the scientist has him by the hair.

"Jeffrey!" Fox screams running to him. "Put him down, now Dr. Conner!"

"Fox no! We promised Robin we wouldn't kill anyone," he says with a weak smile as the scientist squeezes his hair. His Zechs disguise slowly melts off of him. "You have to promise you won't—" He passes out before he could finish, and the rest of his disguise finally fades. He looks to be about nineteen-years-old with no hair on his head because it's replaced by long tail protruding from the back of this head about the size of this own body of almost six feet tall.

"I SAID PUT HIM DOWN!" she howls sending a mild shockwave making the man drop Jeff. The two scientists cover their ears in pain as well as anyone who was awake and too close for ear cover. Jeff's uncle falls to one knee while the other scientist takes a step back. He trips over the edge of the ridge and falls backwards.

"HAH! AAH!" Fox stands breathing heavily a moment before going to Jeffery. She goes on her knees and carefully lays his head and tail in her lap.

"Thank you, Jeffery for giving us this chance of escape, and I make this promise. I will never let them put you or Samantha in another vat again as long as I live," she says softly as Fire and Wind come over to help with Jeff. She helps them carry Jeff to the area where Samantha is being taken care of. Fox watches as they load Jeff into the van, but doesn't go in. She moves away from the van while the others are preoccupied with Jeff. She turns to see Jeff's uncle behind her.

"You're not getting away from me that easily Fox," Dr. Salamander says coldly. Instead of answering, she turns and runs. He quickly follows suit. They soon reach a high cliff and the two stop. "Now tell me where my nephew is, and I promise to make sure the rest of the tests are painless." He continues to advance towards her. She gives him a dirty look before closing her eyes and falls backwards off the cliff. "Sorry Fox," he says coldly grabbing her arm before she fell. "You're not dying that easily."

"Who said anything about dying?" she says smugly as her wings begin to grow surprising him. Blood trickles down her back as they reach their large black crow color size. She flaps her giant wings trying to pull away from him, but his grip holds firm. He climbs her like a mountain as the flies further from the cliff.

"You don't look very happy now do you, Fox," he says squeezing her tighter.

"If you keep squeezing me, we're both going to fall to our deaths."

"Only when you tell me where my beloved niece and nephew are?"

"UH, no way am I going to give you that information," she says sternly as the flap of her wings become stronger. They soon find themselves over thin ice right next to the Pacific Ocean. Polar bears line the shores made of ice.

"Planning to drop me in the ocean among the killer whales and polar bears?" Dr. Salamander asks.

"You're not worth killing," she says coldly. Instead of getting an angry glare, she receives a sad smile. "I'm just going to drop you hear to by us enough time to get away."

"I thought you'd say that, Fox," he says now face to face with her. He looks into her sympathy giving eyes though her stern face says otherwise. "You could always tell when something was wrong with me even when we kidnapped you. Tell Jeffery and Samantha that I'm sorry for what I've done to them. I just couldn't stand by while they were murdered. I just had to…"

"Wait. What, what are you talking about? I, I was kidnapped? I wasn't made like this."

"Of course not you were kept in confinement so long you started to believe those lies we told you."

"How could you?" she growls coldly. "I have the right of mind to feed you to those polar bears."

"Then do so, Mei. It would be a fitting death for a cowardly man who never fought for anything in his life.

"What? Why, why are you telling me this now?"

"I couldn't tell you while Dr. Conner was still around. He was to make sure I couldn't talk. You see he can change into anything he wants."

"Anything he wants, but I still don't understand why you're telling me this?" she asks.

"You're the only one who can get rid of him before he gets stronger."

"What do you mean I'm the only one?"

"Unless you can find others like yourself who can manipulate their body you can't win." Before Mei could object, she feels something shot into her back. "I'm sorry Mei but you must make sure Jeffery and Samantha find a place they can call home," he says as he lets go of her.

"What are you doing, Dr. Salamander?" she asks grabbing his hands. "Are you trying to kill yourself?"

"Yes, Mei, I am. I don't want to live anymore knowing what I've done to so many people many of which my own family."

"I'm not going to let you take the coward's way out of this!" she yells boldly.

"I'm sorry Mei but I'm not as strong as you," Dr. Salamander says softly. "You don't want to waste your strength on me Mei. I know you can't fly back to the base while holding me, so do me a favor and just drop me."

"No! I told you. I'm not going to let you take the easy way out of this!" she says stubbornly. "I know if you talk to Jeffery and Samantha they'll give you another chance that's why I'm not going to let you give up now."

"You have a big heart that you hide under the mask of yours. You should let it out more often so people can see that beautiful smile of yours." He watches as she stops on the ice because of the slow response tranquilizer. "Mei go now and look for your brother."

"…Brother? I, I have a brother."

"You had several actually but I'm not sure where they are. That will be your mission in life. Mei find your family and live a good life if Cobra never finds you."

"Who's Cobra?"

"Cobra is Dr. Conner's real identity." Mei gasps seeing a mother and her cubs running their way. She grabs Dr. Salamander's hand, but he doesn't budge. "Do as I say, Mei and just leave me. You're going to die here with me if you stay because of the tranquilizer I gave you.

"But that was hardly painful."

"I know… that's what tranquilizers are supposed to be like." Just as the mother reaches them, he pushes Mei away as the mother starts to rip off pieces of his body.

"DR. SALAMANDER! AH!" She's slapped to the ground by one of the year old cubs. As the cub comes after her again, she kicks it away. She manages to get in the air, but as she looks down she sees that Dr. Salamander is already dead. She flies off remembering what Dr. Salamander said to her. "…Brother? I… have a brother." She digs in her mind to try to remember her family. She finds herself next to the fox hole she dug earlier, but her mind is focused on the one face that comes in focus. "His name… Why can't I remember his name?" She starts to stumble as the tranquiller take hold of her body like a Venus fly trap catching it's next victim..

"Fox!" The voice is familiar. She turns to see someone running towards her. She sees her brother running towards her. She tries to run but she trips. The medicine finally starts to make her lose consciousness.

"I promise to find you, brother," she whispers to herself before she's out cold.

7

Gundam Wing 1: Escape from Antartica 


	2. Chapter 2

_Returning Lost Memories_

"Water speaking checking for clearance," Water says. She sits at the controls in a private shuttle."

"This is sleeping dragon," says a young male voice. "Transmission's clear." His face pops up on screen. He has black slick hair and black Chinese eyes. He wears a red dress shirt. "So, how was the mission?"

"Mission accomplished. We rescued three kids from base Antarctica."

"A rescue mission…? How did an information gathering operation turn into a rescue mission?"

"Ooh cutie," Samantha says leaning over Water's back. "And what's you're name?" The young man gives her a dirty look.

"I'm not obliged to give that information to you," he says coldly. "So I suggest you go back to the room you came from."

"You rotten little—!"

"Samantha!" Water and Samantha both look back to see Fox at the door. "What are you doing in here? Get back to your set!"

"But I didn't do—"

"What did I say?"

"But—"

"You're being a burden!" she says coldly. Samantha's eyes begin to water. "Go on. Get back to you seat." This time her voice isn't cold. "Jeff is probably cold. You can go snuggle up to him." She doesn't say a word as she leaves the room.

"Wasn't that a little cruel?" Water asks looking back at Fox.

"The last thing you need is her being hostile to one of your colleges. Be happy. I did you a favor."

"And who said I wanted any favors from you?" Sleeping Dragon says coldly.

"Well don't you sound like a big tough guy," she says walking to the video phone. "Sounds like someone's afraid of getting a little help from a woman."

"I'm not afraid."

"Of course your not now."

"Are you challenging me?" he yells outraged.

"Ok that's enough! You go back to your seat," she says sternly to Fox. Fox smiles before doing what she said. She turns back to her colleague. "Wufei, what's gotten into you? It's not like you to lash out like that."

"How long is it until you arrive here," he asks changing the subject. She stops herself from saying more when she sees a confused melancholy look on his face.

"We'll be there no later than lunch." She watches him a bit longer. "What's wrong, Wufei?"

"If it's not too much to ask Sally, can I talk to that girl again? I think I might know her."

"…Of course. …Is she an old acquaintance," she asks softly.

"I'm not sure… It might just be me hopping to have some relief from this loneliness I've been feeling lately."

_**I know how it feels to lose a few loved one but not on the scale you have. Wufei, I can't begin to imagine how it feels. **_ "I'll leave you with her for a while and try this time not to start another fight." Wind comes in to the control room of the carrier.__

"Thank you, Sally."

"What's the mater, Wufei? I've never seen you so down before."

"It's nothing to concern yourself with, Noin," he says softly. "I'm going to go get some lunch. Something tells me it's going to take a while for her to talk."

"You might be right," Noin says right before he hangs up. "You can go rest, Sally."

"Thanks, I needed a break," she says standing. "I'm pretty sure the kids are hungry. I'll go see if they want something." The leaves the room and to her surprise finds Fox making sandwiches and tea. "It seems you beat me to the punch."

"I thought you'd be a bit hungry after putting up with me and my friends," she says softly.

"Is there a problem?" Sally asks seeing the confused melancholy look on her face.

"It's nothing to bother yourself with," she says softly. "You don't mind taking this tray to them, do you?"

"No, but aren't you going to eat with your friends?"

"I'd only make them miserable with the mood I'm in, right now." She hands Sally the tray with food and tea. "Besides, I'm not hungry."

"If you need to talk, you can talk to any of us here," she says softly.

"Thank you, but I don't think it will help."

"Ok, but if you change your mind there's always here to talk." Fox watches her leave before going back to the counter where another kennel of water is put to boil. She turns to find another tea cup and notices a stool in the corner. She picks up the stool after finding coffee cup. She sits on the stool after setting it beside of the kennel. She looks into her empty cup thinking back to what Dr. Salamander said.

"You could always tell when something was wrong with me even when we kidnapped you. Tell Jeffery and Samantha that I'm sorry for what I've done to them. I just couldn't stand by while they were murdered."

"Wait. What, what are you talking about? I, I was kidnapped? I wasn't made like this."

"Of course not you were kept in confinement so long you started to believe those lies we told you." Fox unknowingly grasps tightly to the glass coffee cup as she continued to remember Dr. Salamander's last moments alive.

"What? Why, why are you telling me this now?"

"I couldn't tell you while Dr. Conner was still around. He was to make sure I couldn't talk. You see he can change into anything he wants."

"Anything he wants, but I still don't understand why you're telling me this?" she asked.

"You're the only one who can get rid of him before he gets stronger."

"What do you mean I'm the only one?"

"Unless you can find others like yourself who can manipulate their body you can't win, Mei."

"What, what did he mean by that," she asks herself biting her bottom lip. "Manipulate their body like me?"

"No! I told you. I'm not going to let you take the easy way out of this!" she said stubbornly. "I know if you talk to Jeffery and Samantha they'll give you another chance that's why I'm not going to let you give up now."

"You have a big heart that you hide under the mask of yours. You should let it out more often so people can see that beautiful smile of yours." He watched as she stopped on the ice because of the slow response tranquilizer. "Mei go now and look for your brother."

"…Brother? I, I have a brother."

"You had several actually but I'm not sure where they are. That will be your mission in life. Mei find your family and live a good life if Cobra never finds you."

"Who's Cobra?"

"Cobra is Dr. Conner's real identity." She gasps as the coffee cup shatters in her hand. She stands up shaken.

"Are you ok," Wind asks holding the tray she had given Sally earlier.

"It's nothing. I just broke a coffee mug accidentally."

"Do you need any—"

"No, I'll clean it up," she says quickly already halfway down with the clean up. "You can set the tray down over there." She waits till he leaves to take out the sharp peaces of mug from her hand. "What's wrong with me? I'm never this nervous at least not around people I don't know." She watches the blood as it floods the palm of her hand soon going down her arm just like how the filled each bite the mother polar bear took out of Dr. Salamander. "Why did you have to be such a coward Dr. Salamander?" Fox asks as Noin comes out of the cockpit and notices Fox looking at her hand.

"What happened—"

"I'm fine," Fox says closing her had as Noin makes it over to her. "It's nothing."

"Don't say that! That's more then just nothing!"

"If you keep taking to me like that, I might actually start thinking that you don't mind being around the monster who nearly clawed up your face," she says closing her eyes.

"Forget about that! Give me your hand so I can at least put pressure on it."

"Please, just leave me alone. My hand will heal on its own," she says now looking at the blood on the floor. "I don't want your help." She goes in search of another coffee mug, but Noin grabs her arm.

"Are you trying to kill yourself? You need—!"

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Fox screams pushing her away. Noin backs up as her face changes to a snarling fox before knocking her to the ground. She stares wide eyed at a teenage human sized fox. The fox strangely flaunts the colors of black and orange tipped tail, paws, and ears.

"Noin!"

"Fox! Calm down," Jeff says quickly climbing over the last seat. He stops Zechs from getting too close. "She just wanted to help you."

"I don't want her touching me!" Fox growls in her fox form surprising them. "I'm not their Ginny pig anymore."

"Remember the promise we made, Fox. Don't break it now." Hearing those words, she moves away from Noin her ears drooping with her tail between her legs shaking terribly. Jeff carefully maneuvers around Noin as Zechs helps sit her up. "Come on, Fox." He tries to touch her head but she shies away from him.

"I, I wasn't going to hurt her," she says back. "I just wanted to scare her away." Fox starts to whimper when she's stuck in a corner.

"It's me Jeff remember? You know I won't hurt you." She finally lets him pet her head but her shaking doesn't cease. "Let's go sit down in the back," he says picking her. She immediately starts to struggle in his arms as he stands with her.

"I wasn't going to hurt her!" she cries. "I just wanted to scare her!" He starts to move her to the back. "NO! I don't want to go back! I have to meet him today!" The others watch as she changes back struggling more.

"Fox!"

"I promised I'd meet him under the tree behind his school!

"Fox stop it!"

"I have to give him his birthday present! He turns eleven today!"

"STOP IT!" Jeff screams shaking her some after turning her around so that they're face to face. "You're not eleven anymore!" He pulls her into a hug as he starts to break down some like some of the others in the room. "You turn twenty today, Fox. You turn twenty." Noin gets up quickly leaving the room. Zechs goes after her.

"I can't believe they did such a thing to that poor girl," she says crying.

"I know how you feel, Noin, but at least now she can start looking for her family." He helps her sit down in the copilot's seat while he takes the pilot's seat.

"Yes, you're right, Zechs, and I want to be the one to help her find her family."

"I trust you will, Noin." Zechs gets on the speaker asking for clearance as Samantha comes in. The two turn, but Zechs goes back to what he's doing.

"I'm sorry but…"

"Did something happen, Samantha?"

"I was wondering since its Fox's birthday, can we give her at least a cupcake or something."

"Of course Samantha," she says with a smile. "I'll see what I can scrape together. We will be landing soon so it's best if you take your seat."

"Thank you," Samantha says with a big smile. She happily leaves closing the door behind her. She goes to where the others are. The lady in the front said we're going to land soon."

"Ok everyone that means find a seat and buckle up." She watches as Fox sits near the front of the plane away from Jeff.

"Samantha, do you mind turning off the tea kennel while you're there," Fox asks before Samantha sits down.

"Ok." Sally sits down next to Fox as Samantha jumps in the seat across from Fox's and three seats in front of Jeff. "How are you feeling, Fox?"

"I'm ok. I guess," she says softly looking down. "It's not like me to panic like that."_** I've always told myself its ok to be frightened, but I don't know what just happened. Why did that memory return? Was it because Dr. Salamander I was kidnapped and that I had a family I can return to? Or was it something else?**_

"You just need some rest, Fox."

"Rest sounds good." _**I just hope where we're going is safe. **_Noin and Zechs come out from the cockpit.

"Ok everyone this is our stop. When we exit the plane, there will be someone to pick us up." Zechs opens the door and proceeds down the stairs provided. The others follow and as they planted their feet on the ground, two black cars drive up.

"Samantha, Jeff come here a moment." They look at her a moment before doing what she says. "Let me see your necks." They roll down the collars of their shirts for her exposing the thick black collars on their necks. She puts her index and middle finer in between Jeff's neck and the collar she takes her right index finger and slices the collar off.

"Thanks Fox. That's a lot better," he says as she repeats the process for Samantha. She turns and walks away with the two callers. "Hey Fox, where are you going?"

"I'll be right back. Just make sure no one follows me."

"Sure I can do that." She disappears behind the plane. He turns to his cousin as they start walking to the cars. "So Samantha, what car do you want?"

"Which ever one the guy with the long blonde hair is going in?"

"I should have known you'd fall for the blonde guy." Zechs glances back at the two as one of the drivers comes out and walks to Zechs. She gets his attention before he could ask where the third member is.

"I wasn't expecting you to be here, Lady Une," he asks surprised.

"I was curious to see the children you rescued." She looks over to see Jeff and Samantha. "And this must be them," she says as they stop next to them. Everyone jumps at the consecutive three explosions.

"Oh my God, Fox!" Jeffery stops Samantha from going over there.

"Stay here Samantha. I'll go," he says and starts to run his tail steadily becomes longer with his worry as Zechs follows._** How could I have been so stupid? Of course the callers would be bombs.**_ Just as they make it to the rear of the plane, a large amount of feathers bombard them flying everywhere. "Where are all these feathers coming from," he asks reaching the back of the plane first.

"There she is," Zechs says noticing a large pile of feathers collected in one spot. The two make it to her as she sits up surprisingly on her own. The wind starts to gather the feathers like mini kites. "Fox, what happened?" They see that her black pajama shirt is mostly gone, but the rest of her pajamas are in tact.

"I got caught in the explosion," she says after a series of coughing. Zechs soon notices the serious burns on her face.

"We have to get you to a hospital."

"NO! The last thing I need is them knowing I was in the hospital. They'd track us down, and I don't want that for my friends," she says managing to stand up.

"Do you even know how badly you're burned?" Zechs asks objecting to her notion as she looks at him.

"I'll heal on my own. I just need a place to rest before the after shocks of the explosion make me immobile." She turns from him and starts walking. The two follow after her.

"Are you sure you should be walking so soon?" Jeff whispers to her concerned.

"As long as I make it to a car in time, I'll be perfectly fine." Jeff stops Zechs from touching Fox's shoulder.

"It's ok, really. She heals faster than any normal human. Those burns on her body will be cleared up by the time she makes it to the car." Jeff lets go of him and says sadly, "Remember, they called us experiments. That's what Fox, I'm afraid, is starting to think that's all she is now."

"Hum." He watches her as she starts to pass the plane. He notices her becoming sluggish. He finds himself next to her as she falls to her knees. "Fox are you, ok."

"I, I can't move," she says in a shaky voice as she hugs herself. "Uh…" She slowly plants one of her shaking hands on the ground.

"Fox, can you stand?" Jeff asks softly. She shakes her head. "Ok… Let's get you in the car." Her hair drapes over her shirt as she stands with help from both of them. They start to lead her to the nearest car. Jeff quickly opens the door for Fox, and helps her inside. "Try and be more careful, Fox," Jeff says softly smoothing out her messed up hair. "You're not immortal, you know."

"I know that. I didn't want anyone getting hurt." She closes the door and locks it before he could say anything else to her. Fox sighs watching them leave for the other car.

"You could have at least asked Jeff to keep you company." She looks over to Noin slide in next to her.

_**Her again…**_ "I thought for sure you'd keep your distance."

"I thought I'd give you another chance." She looks away from Noin and looks out the window. "How is your hand exactly?" There's no response. "I see it's stopped bleeding." _**This is going to be harder then I thought. **_

"It's meaningless to waste supplies on me." Noin hides her shock as Sally comes in and sits in the passenger seat while Une sits in the driver's seat. Fox turns from the window at their arrival.

"I'm sure you'll want to take a bath and get out of those pajamas," Noin says trying one more time to start up a conversation. Une starts the car and drives off. Fox grits her teeth as the aftershock of the blast from earlier racks her body. She looks down at what's left of her black shirt and sees that it's wet with blood. She moves the seatbelt and pulls away some of her pajama shirt from her body exposing an area that has only muscle. "Fox—"

"I don't want anyone touching me," she says sternly grabbing her wrist after enlarging and extending her hand stunning everyone in the car. She quickly retraces her hand looking down. "I don't need any help," she says slowly returning her hand to normal while her open wound heals by itself.

_**That's what she meant.**_ Noin looks at Fox sympathetically. "How about you tell me your size, and I can get you some new clothes."

"I… don't know my size," she says blushing after a moment of silence. Une glances at her through the rearview mirror as they stop at a red light.

"Then we'll see what happens when we get there." Noin sighs when Fox doesn't answer.

"…Thank you," Fox says after a few minutes of looking out the window. Noin smiles finally getting through to her. Fox takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.

6

Gundam Wing 2: Returning Lost Memories 


	3. Chapter 3

_Family Reunion_

Wufei sits at this desk after placing a burger bag next to his computer. He takes a sip of his drink. He looks up at one of his coworkers as he places a hand on his shoulder.

"I hear it's a special day for you," he says as his brown eyes seem to smile with him. He has black curly hair cut close to his head like a well kept lawn except for the name Tina shaved into the side of his head, and he wears the same uniform as his coworker.

"You know you're going to get in trouble because of your hair," Wufei says changing the subject.

"Don't change the subject birthday boy," he says as he nudges him. "Are you doing anything?" Wufei surprises him by getting up and leaving the room. "What's wrong with him?" He goes to the door and watches Wufei go down the hall. "Wufei! What about your lunch?"

"I'm not hungry. You can have it," he says without looking back. He turns the corner and leans on the wall thinking back. The bright flash as his home colony explodes. "How can I enjoy my birthday when I have no family to celebrate it with," he says softly closing his eyes. He looks up as a small group of people enter through the front door of the building. He instinctively goes over to them.

"Finally a bath and new clothes," Samantha says happily showing off her pink tank top with matching shorts and shoes.

"Yeah, but now I'm starving," Jeff says turn around to Zechs and Une. He wears a white T-shirt with a red W on the front and blue jeans and sneakers. "You guys wouldn't mind getting us some lunch, or is there a snack machine somewhere?"

"Noin and Sally are bringing pizza," Une says.

"Alright! I haven't had pizza in four years," Samantha says. Jeff looks over at Wufei.

"Oh hi," Jeff says. "My name's Jeffery Salamander, but my friends call me Jeff."

"My name's Wufei Chang," he says. "I'm guessing you're the ones rescued from the Antarctica base."

"And this is my cousin, Samantha," he says.

"We've already met," she says annoyed. "And he's not very nice."

"Wasn't there another girl with you?" Wufei asks.

"Fox is still outside looking at the flowers and birds. It's been a while since she's been outside… almost six years."

"Six years?" Wufei says alarm.

"I don't like people feeling sorry for me," Fox says angrily. They turn to see Fox wearing a purple dress shirt and a long navy blue skirt that stops at her ankles. Slits in her skirt start from the middle of the thighs downward, and unlike the others she wears Chinese slippers. Fox and Wufei glare at one another. "And how come all of a sudden you want to talk to me?"

"If you want to know, follow me," he says.

"I'd prefer to talk after lunch if it's not too much trouble." Wufei watches her but her eyes seem similar to him but he doesn't show it.

"Now who's being afraid?"

"Why does she have to follow you? What ever you have to say you can say right here!" Samantha growls. Fox walks past Samantha and starts toward Wufei. "Fox, you don't have to cater to him!" She surprises him by going in a fighting stance.

"Hum… I don't fight women," he says coldly returning the surprise. Fox angrily launches a kick at him, and he blocks it. He dodges the next couple of kicks before he starts fighting back. She moves away from his punches and startles him as she blocks his punch with a kick in the face.

"Fox, what are you doing?" Jeff asks watching helplessly. "You can't just go around fighting people!"

"Leave her alone. That jerk's getting what he deserves." Samantha says smugly as Wufei recovers quickly and grabs her arm as she tries to punch him. He flips her over his shoulder. Sally and Noin arrive with the pizza in time to see Wufei about to elbow Fox's head. Fox surprises him by blocking the attack with her hands. She pushes of the wall with enough momentum to trip Wufei. This time, he doesn't get up fast enough and finds himself pinned under her.

"You listen and you listen good. You saw that I was a woman, and you underestimated me. You work for and with several women, and do you think of them as weak or as equals, Wufei?" Wufei is about to say something, but he stops himself. "I thought so." She gives him a hard look. "You better respect women more because you have to remember that you came from one," Fox says coldly. He watches as she gets up. He turns and sits up as she starts to walk away.

"Wufei, are you ok?" Sally asks walking to him holding three boxes of pizza. He eventually stands.

"Yes Sally, I'm ok." A look of melancholy crosses his face a look Sally saw earlier that day returns to his face. _**The expression on her face was the same… the same as—**_

"What's wrong, Wufei?" Noin asks seeing his expression as she hold three boxes of pizza herself.

"That severe expression she gave me… It, it was so familiar," he says softly. "It reminded me of my father."

"No wonder you gave me your lunch." Everyone turns to see the guy with Tina shaved on his head walk up to Wufei. "What's with the pizza party? You're not holding out on me, are you birthday boy."

"Birthday boy?" Sally says soft to herself._** No wonder you were feeling lonely, Wufei. You feel you can't celebrate your birthday without your family.**_

"It's not my party, John," Wufei says flatly.

"I you want some pizza you'll have to ask Fox. She's the birthday girl," Jeff says.

"How old is she today?" Wufei asks quickly.

"She turns twenty today," Jeff says curious to why he's suddenly interested in Fox. Wufei takes off running down the hall, but he's jerked to a stop by Jeff. He turns surprised to Jeff's tail wrapped around his left arm.

"What is this?"

"Don't get me wrong or anything Wufei, but I have to warn you about Fox. As you can see, I'm not exactly what you'd call normal. I've been subject to experiments," he says softly. "And so has Fox, but hers differs from Samantha and me."

"How is she different?"

"She's been experimented on for almost eight years now and in different place after another, but we've only been experimented on about four years. They brain washed her into thinking that she was some creation that they made before putting a chip in her brain to get better control over her. The chip backfired and only started to suppress the memories of her past," he says releasing Wufei's arm. "You're going to have to do something you two used to do together. That's the only way to jog her memory."

"Thanks!" Wufei calls taking off again. He continues down the hall his mind racing.

"NO, Father! Why does Wufei have to go?" An eight-year-old girl cried as she ran past her father. "Wufei!" He turned to his reflection run to him. Seeing her, his face lit up, and they hugged each other.

"I'm not going that far, Mei," Wufei said.

"I don't want to be separated from you," Mei cried hugging him tighter.

"We can meet after school," he whispered pulling away from her. "I'll write you and tell you where we should meet ok. Now stop crying."

"Ok," she said before she gave one last hug he could feel her watch him as he left with his escort. Wufei stops in a room they used for meetings. The room is seemingly empty, but he searches the room anyway. Not finding her, he enters the lounge room. The room is large enough to have several tables, vending and drink machines, and two wide chairs that can be used as beds.

"Mei!" he calls and finds her lying on the ground. On impulse, he goes to her. "Mei!" He checks for a pulse when she doesn't respond. "Mei, what's wrong?" he asks himself as he picks her up and sits on one of the two wide chairs. He hugs her upper body and lets the rest occupy the rest of the chair. "Mei, wake up. Mei!"

"Hum?" She snuggles closer to his chest before opening her eyes. She looks up at Wufei. "Jeffery, why'd you have to turn into him? If you're trying to tease, it's not funny."

"I'm not Jeffery, Mei," he says softly. "I found you passed out on the floor." She blushes before pulling away from him.

"Um, I'm ok. I just haven't eaten very much in the past few days," she says continuing to look forward. She gasps as he hugs her from behind. "What are you—" _**This feel familiar for me but, but why? **_ She looks down at Wufei's arms which are now around her middle. She couldn't resist the urge to hug them. Unsure she pulls away from him again, but this time, she stands. "This, this isn't right," she says moving away from him. "I just met you." She turns and walks away.

"Mei!" He stands when she doesn't stop. "Mei Chang, don't you dare walk away from me when I'm talking to you!"

"Wha, what did you call me?" she asks turning around stunned.

"That's your name. …Don't tell me you forgot your own name, Mei," he says softly. "I know you don't remember me, but you should at least know your first name. Can you remember anything Mei anything at all?" _**What can I do to make her remember?**_

_**He's so sad.**_ She watches as he looks down unsure of what to do. _**That face… I, I know that face.**_ "Panda Bear." He looks up stunned, but it is replaced with concern seeing her hold her head in pain.

"Mei what's, what's wrong?" Wufei asks going to her, but he stops seeing her hand change to twice its size and her ears grow into fox ears. _**What… what did they do to you, Mei?**_ He starts to move to her again as she falls to her knees. The others come in just as her wings sprout out of the back of her shirt. Her hands find their way to the floor. He goes on his knees in front of her. "You're not going to give me anymore surprises, are you?"

"No please," she says in a shaky voice moving away form him when he tries to touch her. "Don't touch me." She starts to cry covering her face with her hands. "They turned me into a monster."

"I don't see a monster, Mei," he says sitting cross legged in front of her. He removes her hands from her face. "All I see is my little sister crying. From what I see, you haven't changed much."

"Huh, I thought the resemblance of you two was uncanny," Sally says bringing over her three boxes of pizza. The twins look up at Sally. "How about you two sit down and eat?"

"Thanks Sally." He helps his sister up into the seat in front of her. "I want you to eat something, Mei," he says softly as the others enter the room. Noin places her pizzas on the table next to Mei and Wufei. Wufei sits next to his sister. Sally places a box in front of her.

"Thank you," Mei says softly. She opens the box and stares at it a moment before closing it.

"What's wrong Mei," Sally asks seeing that she refuses to touch her pizza. "You made sure that we got one with anchovies on it."

"Anchovies again," Samantha says disgusted. "Why do you insist on ordering that topping on a pizza? No body eats it."

"That's because it wasn't for me," she says sliding it over to Wufei. "It's Panda Bear and Father's favorite pizza."

"All this time, you still remember my favorite pizza," he says with a smile. "You wouldn't by any chance have a black olive pizza would you?"

"Yes, I do, but you told me you didn't like black olives, Wufei."

"It's not for me. It's for Mei. That's her favorite pizza." Noin comes over as the twins take a slice of pizza from their box and hands the slice to the other twin.

"What are you guys doing," Jeff asks coming over with the others. "I thought you guys didn't like the other's pizza."

"We don't," Mei says.

"It's a test of endurance," Wufei says.

"The goal is to eat as much of the slice without making ourselves sick. Brother's always beaten me at it. Jeff, will you give us a count down?"

"Sure why not. Five… four… three… two… one… GO!"

It's late evening at a celebration in the L1 cluster. Several men sit at a table together watching a young woman with long blonde hair stopping midway down her back as she talks. She wears a sea blue businesswoman's suit and matching shoes. She shakes hands with the president. One of the men at the table reaches in his pocket for his phone. He answers it.

"Hello? Hum… So, they've escaped." He wears a black suit that matches his hair. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll find them."

"Is there something wrong, Mr. Crawford," asks one of his colleges seeing the look of concern on his face as he stands.

"I'm afraid I'll have to leave. My son's collapsed again. He's in the hospital." He starts to leave quickly when he bumps into young man with blonde hair and friendly blue-green eyes.

"Mr. Crawford, you're not leaving already, are you?" He wears a suit similar to Mr. Crawford's.

"Yes, I'm afraid I do a family emergency."

"It isn't Max again, is it?" he asks worried. "Is he—"

"No, but I need to see him right away. Do me a favor and tell me what happens," Mr. Crawford says softly.

"Of course, I'll do that for you. Tell Max, I'll come and visit as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Mr. Winner."

"You don't have to be so formal, Mr. Crawford. You can still call me Quatre."

"Thank you, Quatre," he says softly and quickly goes.

_**Poor Max. I hope he's ok. **_He watches Mr. Crawford go worry on his face.

"Are you ok, Master Quatre?" asks a well built tall man with a booming deep voice. He has curly dark brown hair and wears a blue suit. He's followed by one of his men who is also wearing a similar suit which seemingly matches his slick black hair.

"I'm just worried about a childhood friend." The three go take their seats quickly. "Lately, he's been getting really sick, and I can't do anything to help." He looks down a moment before realizing he made a promise to watch. The people at the celebration stand and clap which he quickly follows. "I guess we missed it."

"It's not a total loss. You can still get a slice of cake."

"That's ok, Abdul. You and Rashid can go get a slice. I'm ok." Quatre sits down. "I'm still a little tired from running all the way here just to find out that I missed it."

"You couldn't help that your meeting conflicted with the celebrating, Master Quatre," Abdul says.

"You're right, but I wish I was here to see it though."

"Go on, Abdul," Rashid says after a while of seeing him peer at the cake. "Just make sure you get something to drink for Master Quatre." Before he could go, someone places a big slice of cake and a drink in front of Quatre.

"…Thank you, but I can't eat that much cake," he says looking up into the Cobalt blue eyes of one of his old friends. He has shaggy dark brown hair and wears a black and white catering uniform. "Heero."

"Here," he says handing him a CD. "I taped the whole thing for you in case you were late."

"Thank you, but you didn't have to do that for me."

"I need to ask a favor of you. I need you to keep an eye out for a woman named Mei Chang."

"Mei Chang, is she related to Wufei?"

"Yes, she is. She's his little sister. They're twins, so she's easy to spot." Heero hands Quatre what looks like a business card.

"What's this?" he asks looking at the card.

"It's my phone number. If you see her, call me. Just make sure she doesn't get my number."

"Why?"

"She'll find me, and I don't think I can handle that, right now."

"Is she dangerous?"

"No, lets just say she's the mirror image of Wufei. I got to go," Heero says. "Save the cake for your friend who's in the hospital. It will make him feel better."

"Thanks Heero," Quatre says watching him leave. He looks at the number again before sticking it in his wallet. _**Mei Chang… I wonder what she's like.**_

The alarm clock goes off but is quickly shut off. Wufei sits up in bed before looking at his sister. She sleeps on a twin bed next to his. He watches her a moment before getting up to get ready for work. The sound of the shower wakes her slowly. She finds herself unsure of where she is as she sits up. She sets her feet on the soft carpet. She turns on the lamp and notices a picture on the dresser. She reaches over and picks it up. She looks at the picture and easily finds her brother. She doesn't look up as her brother exits the bathroom.

"That's a picture of everyone who works as Preventers. It's been almost four years since it's been founded."

"Four years, huh?"

"Yeah, the four founders are in back Lady Une, Sally, Noin, and Zechs."

"Why did you join, Wufei?" she asks softly.

"It was the only place where a redundant soldier is best suited. Sally's the one who asked me to join," he says going to the closet.

"This Sally woman… are you very close to her?"

"…Sally and I are… just partners, nothing more."

"If you could marry her, would you, Wufei?" she asks curiously.

"I've already been married once. I think that's enough marriage in my lifetime." He thinks a moment as he starts to put on his uniform.

"You were? When did this happen?"

"A year before operation meteor A.C. 184. I won her through a contest of skill. She didn't exactly know her place but she gave me courage to fight. She died piloting the Tallgeese, so I called my Gundam Nataku in honor of her. Nataku was her nickname."

"But marrying Sally wouldn't be arranged like with your first wife. You love Sally don't you?"

"Do you want to go to work with me today or are you going to stay here?" he asks changing the subject.

"I'll stay here," she says softly. "I'm working on a project." He looks at his sister. "I want to make something for the other woman that rescued us. I want to make up for how I acted."

"Ok, just don't push yourself too hard. You're still recovering from that explosion remember." He walks over to his sister after going in his drawer. "Here. I want you to have this cell phone just in case something happens."

"Thank you." She doesn't hesitate in taking the phone. "I'm glad Jeff helped you find me. I know for sure he set this whole thing up. That's just the way he is." He sits down seeing the look of worry on her face. "What happens if they find us?" she asks in a shaky voice. "I don't think I can handle anymore experiments."

"I'll do everything in my power to protect you. I won't allow them to take you back Mei, ok. You're safe with me." He comforts his sister as she cries dropping the cell on the soft carpet. After she settles down, he tucks her into be. "I won't leave until you fall asleep, ok."

"Thank you, Panda Bear," she says softly. "For taking care of me… You didn't have to take me in."

"I didn't want you to be alone," he says softly. "Jeff says you need at least three more days of rest."

"I see you've noticed he knows my limits and specialties like I know his. They… made us to be the perfect partnership. Samantha wasn't part of the plan that's why they wanted to get rid of her."

"You need to stop saying that, Mei!" Wufei says sternly. "No one made you into what you are. They changed you some yes, but they didn't change who _you_ really are. Don't let you or anyone else, tell you different."

"Thank you brother," she says surprising him with a hug. "I just wish that Father and the others were here, so they could be proud of you… to…" Wufei becomes alarmed by Mei's sudden limpness.

"Mei… Mei!" She doesn't respond as he shakes her a bit to wake her. He lays her on the bed and checks for a pulse and easily finds one. He picks up the cell phone that she dropped on the floor. He quickly dials. _**Hold on there Mei.**_

7

Gundam Wing 3: Family Reunion 


	4. Chapter 4

_The Runaways_

The sound of chatter invades the bedroom of the medium sized apartment. A lamp gives light to the room revealing two twin beds each lined at the bottom with six draws. Another dresser lies between the beds with a blue stained glass lamp of China's skies above Mount Fuji. A green dragon spews red flames I the night sky. Wufei's eyes land on the lamp after telling what happened to his sister. He finally tears his eyes from it to his sister and notices something unusual in her hair.

He reaches over and slides his finger through her hair not hearing Sally, Noin, and Jeff conversation. He plucks out the object and finds another one only the second one seems to be growing out of her head. He looks at it shocked as he watches it, he becomes even more worried. Just as he touches it, her hair wraps around his hand and wrist. He ignores the pain as the hair begins to slice into him like sharp strands of metal. He forces what seems to be a chip out of her head, and to his relief, her hair releases him.

_**Could these be controlling Mei or is this a robot? **_Blood soaks the pillow case and his hand. He collects the chips in his other hand so that they won't get caked in blood.

"Wufei, what happened to you hand?" Sally asks concerned instantly going over. She takes off her shirt and wraps his hand.

"I'm not sure," he says looking at his sister. "I found two chips in her hair.

"But, how did you get cut," Noin asks as he hands her the two chips.

"It was… her hair," he says softly still bewildered by what just happened. "It wrapped around my hand, and I was cut.

"Has she been tired a lot lately compared to when you met her on your birthday?" Jeff asks changing the subject seeing the disbelief in Noin's eyes.

"Yes, she has. She's been sleeping a lot lately."

"It seems Fox has been working on the chip problem herself."

"The chips are why she passed out on you."

"This is one of the chips you were talking about."

"Yes it is, and I wouldn't be surprised if she's working on the other two. It takes a lot of concentration to make liquid Gundanium move something so small."

"Did you say liquid Gundanium?" Noin says alarmed.

"Yes, I did," he says looking at his friend. "It was… a very painful process. She's the only one who survived the experiment. That's why she's so valuable to them."

"…Wufei? I thought… you went to work… already," Mei says weakly. Her eyes soon land on his hand. "Wha, what happen to you? Did I—"

"It's nothing," he says softly. "Just rest now. We already have two of the chips."

"How in the world did you accomplish that?" Sally asks as Mei sits up.

"Mei's able to manipulate her body to do things normal people can't," Jeff says looking up at Sally. "No matter how many times I see it, it still amazes me." Wufei notices that she's scratching her hand rapidly.

"Mei, what's wrong?" She doesn't answer but he soon sees what she's doing and becomes alarmed. "Stop Mei!" He grabs her hand from clawing up the palm of her left. "Stop hurting yourself, Mei." She grabs Wufei's right hand with her left.

"I'm sorry," she cries. "I didn't mean to—"

"It's ok, Mei. It's not your fault," he says letting go of her right hand to hug her with his left. He flinches as she pulls off the t-shirt and places her hands on the open wounds. As he pulls away, the pain begins to dissipate. He looks at his arm and sees that it's completely healed.

"Since when can you heal people, Fox?"

"When… Robin was killed… I figured out how to do it," she says in an airy voice. "I'm sorry Wufei. I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's ok, Mei. I just want you to get some rest, ok," he says as he takes the pillow with the blood stained pillow case and pulls it off. "You rectified your mistake, so stop crying." She looks up at him take the pillow case and wipe the blood off his arm. He gets up from the bed and takes the pillow from his bed and gives it to her.

"Thank you, Wufei. I'm… glad that… we're together again," she says trying not to cry again.

"Jeff, do you mind keeping an eye on my sister while I'm at work?"

"Sure, I don't mind. She's a close friend. I wouldn't just leave her the way she is." Noin hands Sally the chips he removed from Mei's head.

"You don't mind looking at this, do you? It might give us a clue to who's really behind all the experiments."

"Of course, anything to find out who's behind this," Sally says. She moves to Mei. "Do as your brother says and get some rest. You don't have to worry about being locked up anymore. You can rest easy." She smiles for the first time since they've bin rescued.

"Thank you." She watches them leave. She lies down relieved but not satisfied._** I'm sorry brother, but I can't stay with you for very much longer. The last thing I want is for them to get you too.**_

It's a sunny morning in the park. Two young men greet on another at the park. Each wears casual clothes. The first wears a blue shirt and khaki pants. The other wears a green shirt with long pants.

"You should really stop overworking yourself, Max," he says sitting across from his friend.

"I'm sorry. I just can't seem to help it, Quatre," Max says still looking a bit ill. "It's just that my father has been having problems with his company, so I've been helping him with it."

"You should pace yourself. Don't do everything at once."

"Thanks for the advice, Quatre. Sometimes… I feel like what I do doesn't matter," Max says softly surprising his friend. "All I do is end up getting sick all the time."

"Don't say that, Max. What you do matters a lot. A little goes a long way," he says. "All you have to do is take it easy, and you won't get sick as much, ok."

"Thanks," he says softly, but the look on his face says something's bothering him.

"What's wrong Max?" Quatre asks softly.

"It's just that… I'm afraid I'm—" He stops himself and looks away.

"What ever it is Max you can tell me."

"You, you won't judge me or think of me different if you found out I wasn't who you thought I was, Quatre," he says softly. "This… has been weighing on my mind since I turned ten."

"It's ok, you can tell me." He looks up at Quatre as he places a hand on his shoulder.

"What would… you do if I wasn't human, Quatre?" he asks softly. Quatre is taken aback by his friend's words.

"Wha—?"

"Maxwell!" The two look up to see Mr. Crawford jog up to them. The friends stand up. "There you are. I was looking all over for you."

"I don't need you looking for me," Max says coldly which surprises Quatre. "I wanted to spend some time with Quatre before you kill me!"

"Don't talk to me like that, boy!" Mr. Crawford grows returning the same cold jester.

"Stop it you two!" Quatre says going between the two. "You two shouldn't be fighting. Let's just talk this out, ok."

"I'm afraid there's nothing to talk about with _him_," Max says softly. "He'll just twist my words around like he always does. He did it when I was a child, but it's not going to happen anymore." Max turns and walks away.

"Max! Max come back!" Mr. Crawford runs past Quatre furry on his face. A furry that he'd never seen before in Mr. Crawford.

"You are not going anywhere!" Mr. Crawford growls grabbing Max's arm. "You _will_ listen to me."

"Like hell I will!" he says pulling away.

"I'll teach you, you spoiled brat!" He throws a punch, but he doesn't hit the target he wants. Quatre stumbles back. Max catches him.

"Quatre are you, ok."

"Yes, Max, I'm ok." He instantly turns his attention to Mr. Crawford. "What's wrong, Mr. Crawford? It's not like you to become hostile especially towards Max." He surprises Quatre by turning and walking away. "Wait, Mr. Crawford!"

"He wants to be with you, so he can stay with you," he says angrily without looking back.

"I'm sorry Quatre. I didn't mean for you to get involved like this."

"What happened between you two? You two were always so close."

"Ever since I started to get sick, he's become hostile," Max says softly. "I'm starting to think he's getting resentful of me."

"Don't say that Max."

"You saw how he acted towards me, Quatre, and he didn't even apologize to you."

"It's ok. I don't need an apology. I just want to know what happened between you two."

"Ok, but first lets get something on that eye of yours before it starts to swell." The two leave to get an ice pack at Quatre's place.

Mei sits looking out of the window of a shuttle. Samantha sits next to her sympathy on her face. The once smile on her face had long vanished once they made up their mind to leave the safety of the Preventers to venture out on their own. The true reason Mei and Jeff keep to themselves. Jeff finally joins them sitting beside his cousin. He looks at the phone he took from Mei's purse while she wasn't looking.

_**Damn, look at all those missed phone calls and text messages. That guy's desperate to get his sister.**_ He looks over at Mei as she looks away from the window and looks down sadly. She buckles her seatbelt as the last person joins the shuttle. He sighs seeing the tears start swelling in her eyes.

"Don't be sad Mei. Maybe he lost his phone. You never know," she says softly which seems to cheer her up some." She wipes the tears from her eyes.

"Thanks, Samantha…" She continues to look down. "I… just hope he doesn't hate me."

"Don't say that, Mei." She nudges Jeff, and he looks at his cousin. "Say something," she whispers to him.

"Don't worry. He'll call the Preventers are most likely trying to figure out what the note means first before calling you, that's all."

"You think that's all?" she asks looking at him.

"Sure, that's all. Don't worry. When we arrive on the colony you can call him since we can't use phones on the shuttle." He feels better seeing her smile a little.

"When… when we get there… can I please have my cell phone back?" she asks surprising the two sitting next to her.

"You don't really think I would steal from you, do you, Mei?"

"Your sent… is all over my bag, Jeff," she says solemnly.

"Jeffery, how could you do such a thing?"

"Ok, ok. Keep it down."

"It's ok." They both look at her. "…I just want to know if he called me," she says softly looking out the window, again.

"You have forty-six missed calls and thirty text messages."

"Does he understand, worried, or angry in his text messages?"

"He's worried about you. He thinks you might have been captured."

"Tell him that I'm ok," she says.

"Ok."

"But, tell him you're the reason I haven't text him back," she says coldly. He becomes a little uneasy by her tone of voice. "Don't take anything of mine again, Jeff, especially if my brother gave it to me." He clears his throat as he starts to text Wufei.

Wufei sits a table in the lounge by the machines. He looks down thinking as he sets his lunch bag down worry still on his face. He doesn't seem to notice as Sally walks in and takes the seat across from him.

"Wufei, are you ok?" she asks bringing him back. "She's only been gone for about a week. Jeff and Samantha are missing too you know. They're most likely with her."

"I… I told her she'd be safe with me. Why didn't she trust me?" he asks himself softly not hearing what Sally is saying to him. "It must be because she beat me so easily. I'm… too weak to protect her."

"Don't say that, Wufei. She caught you off guard because you underestimated her." He looks at her a moment.

"That's still no excuse," he says softly.

"Shouldn't you at least be proud of her," Sally says getting his attention. "She's as tough as you were when we first met only a little nicer." The two look at each other before Wufei finally breaks a smile. There's a long pause. He seems to look off as though in his own world.

"When we were children we used to love to switch places. We always dressed alike. She even cut her hair, so it'd match mine and no one would be able to tell us apart. Even our personalities were similar only Father and Master Long could tell us apart," he says avoiding her eyes.

"I can tell you two used to switch a lot." She doesn't get the response that she wants from him right away.

"Yeah, we… were hoping to keep switching places a little while longer, but it didn't happen." He pauses. "They must have been watching us for some time before they decided to act. If… Master Long wouldn't have called me back that day, I probably would have been kidnapped as well."

"That does make sense." She pauses seeing the worry on his face. "Don't worry. I'm sure she just hasn't figured out how to use the new module cell you gave her yet, that's all." He looks at her a bit skeptical. "I'm sure she'll call you once she figures it out or something as simple as she has it on silent."

"You think so huh?" She finally gets the smile she wants. "You're probably right." He opens his bag and takes out a box of Chinese food. "I miss her cooking just as much," he says.

"You do huh, but I thought all she could cook was fish and Meso soup."

"She can make noodles too. It might not be much, but it reminds me of Mother when she cooked though. I guess that's what I missed most," he says softly as the two start their lunch. He stops eating lunch as his phone vibrates.

**New Message**

Fr:Mei

Don't worry she's ok. Don't b angry. The reason y she didn't call back is because I (Jeff) have ur sister's cell.

11:00am Wed, Apr 23

Reply Options

"What's wrong, Wufei," she asks seeing his relief switch to anger.

"Jeff has Mei's cell phone. That's why she hasn't answered any of my calls or messages," he says annoyed. "And I doubt he's going to tell us where they are."

"What's your sister's number, so I can talk to him." He doesn't hesitate in giving her his sister's number. He watches as she calls. When she doesn't get an answer, he's not surprised. But, when she sends a text message she receives a reply.

**New Message**

Fr:Mei

Sorry, I can't tell. It will b a while b4 u'll b able 2 reach us again. Don't let me ruin u're lunch. Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to Mei. C ya!

11:08am Wed, Apr 23

Reply Options

"He says it'll be a while before you'll be able to reach them again, and he'll take good care of Mei for you," she says softly. The look on his face is full of more worry than anger. "We just have to wait until they call back."

"I just hope that they're, ok," he says softly.

"Don't worry, Wufei. We'll find her and her friends." He looks at her unsure a while before daring to eat again.

Evening light descends on one of the several L2 colonies. A curly haired woman watches as the last tent goes up. The animals are quickly moved in the tent after it is secure. She watches them closely so no animal would escape from its cage. She takes her eyes off of them as a man in a white Chinese uniform. She recognized his face. He puts his hands in his pockets as he looks around. He turns around letting his long pig tail flow down his back.

"Samantha, Jeff! You coming or not!" The two come running up and stop to take a breath.

"Come on! Don't run like that. You know we can't keep up with you."

"Stop winning," he said coldly. He turns and walks toward the tent. "It's your fault for being lazy when you should have been preparing like I have."

"Not everyone's a Karate maniac like you and your brother, you know," Jeff says meeting up with his cousin at the tent. "What kind of training do you two do anyway?"

"We just spar against each other as well a jogging in the mornings on the weekends." He stops at the tent and the woman realizes that the man is a woman. She smiles at the woman. "Good Evening. I was wondering if my friends, and I can fill out an application. This is Samantha."

"Hi."

"And this comic is Jeff, but he's not in the mood right now because I made him run." The woman laughs seeing the surprised look on his face.

"That's not true. It's your drill sergeant attitude that has me this way. We… are not in the army now," he says blushing some. It quickly disappears. "I'm ready to do some hard work… secretary work, computer work, and set up work no hard work… unless there are some beautiful animals I can work with."

"Of course follow me," says the curly haired woman. "My name is Catherine. I'm a performer for the circus." The three follow eager to fill out an application. They stop at a blue trailer. "Wait here. I'll be right back." They watch as she climbs the steps and enters the trailer.

"I'm so excited! I wonder what our first job's going to be," Samantha squeals happily. Mei looks around and quickly spots a baby elephant running towards them. A man in blue jeans and a dingy white shirt is chasing it. And as they come closer, she smells the fear of the baby. Mei waits a moment before stepping forward. The elephant stops terrified.

"It's ok, little one. I won't hurt you," she says which makes the elephant unsure. "Come to me. I'll protect you." This time the elephant runs to her open arms. She notices immediate that it's shaking with fright and pain. Blood covers its face and ears. She looks at the man and sees that he holding a broken beer bottle in his hand.

"Oh, what happened to the poor thing?"

"It's obvious what happen. He hit the baby with the beer bottle."_** No wonder it was hesitant in coming to me. It can't see because of the blood and alcohol. **_ "I need some water to wash out its eyes," she says as she stands up to face the man. Jeff and Samantha turn as the trailer door opens.

"Oh my God, Ginger!" Catherine hurries down the steps to it. "What happened to her?"

"Mei's guessing the guy with the beer bottles has something to do with it," Jeff says. "We need some water to get the alcohol out of her eyes." The woman with the applications runs back in to get water as Mei keeps the man away from Ginger.

"Get out of my way!" the man yells angrily.

"Why did you hit the elephant with the bottle?" she asks calmly but annoyed.

"Damn elephant ate my sandwich!" he yells coldly. "Get out of my way, bitch!" She quickly realizes the man isn't drunk. She doesn't smelling alcohol on his breath.

"You're such a coward hitting a defenseless baby animal!" She becomes angry at this getting the attention of one of the workers. He exits his trailer catching the commotion. "You have no excuse because you're not even drunk!" Catherine comes out of the trailer with water for the elephant as the worker come over to assess the situation.

"Someone had to make sure Ginger didn't run away. Besides someone had to teach that damn animal a lesson!" he says angry with Mei's presents. "Now get out of my way, or you'll be next!" She doesn't move so he swings the broken bottle at her but grabs it instead. Mei punches him in the stomach and then the face.

"Mei, be careful!" Samantha yells concerned. Her face lights up as the worker arrives. She watches his slick, short, brown hair as he stops the man with the broken bottle. He drops the broken bottle and slams the other bottle in her face.

"John, what are you doing? Stop!" Catherine calls. "Trowa, stop them!" she cries as the worker and Jeff run over as John goes after Mei for hitting him in the face.

"Stupid bitch!" he yells wiping the blood off his face. He comes at her with a punch, but she side steps and trips him. She waits for him to get up. "Someone needs to teach you a lesson," he says callously.

"You're not worth fighting," she says softly. He takes out a knife alerting the others.

"You don't look so sure now, do you?" he says before going at her. She moves away from him. "This will teach you to mess with me." To his dismay, she kicks the knife out of his hand.

"Don't get too confident. It will be your downfall," she says going in for a high kick but someone grabs her from behind.

"Calm down, Mei!" Jeff says in her ear as Trowa stops John from advancing forward. "The last thing we need is for you to kick someone with those power legs."

"Release me, Jeffery," she says softly digging her nails in his arm. He hardly flinches.

"You have to promise not to harm him," he says feeling her frustration. "Just go to the baby and forget about him." She looks down feeling something wrap around her leg.

"…You take care of him then," she says calm enough from him to let her go.

"Sure." His eyes grow wide as she picks up Ginger. "Don't pick up the elephant!" Everyone looks at Mei shocked. John turns a ghostly pale.

_**She doesn't look it, but could have easily run me into the ground.**_

"What did I do? Did, did I do something wrong?"

"You weren't supposed to show how strong you are." .

"But it's just a baby elephant."

"Not…everyone can pick up a baby elephant," he says.

"What happened here?" he yells angrily getting every one's attention. He stops amazed a moment seeing the elephant in Mei's arms before noticing its bloodied face. "Who attacked my elephant, and who the hell are you three?" He walks over taking a closer look.

"I will take care of her," she says softly. "Just promise he doesn't hit another animal here."

"John, are you drunk again!" the manager yells going to him sees that Mei is right. "I warned you for the last time! Pack your things, John. This is the last time you beat up any of my animals."

"I promise you sir, I'm not drunk," he says his anger disappearing. "It was an accident."

"那不是什麼我聽見了! 他擊中了嬰孩大象用瓶認為她該當了它! (That's not what I heard! He hit the baby elephant with the bottle saying the she deserved it!)"

"Mei, Mei!" She stops and looks at Jeff. "English, Mei, English. No one here can speak Chinese." To his surprises, she gives him a dirty look. "Wha, what's that look for?"

"I think Mei's saying that this guy over there is admitted to striking the baby elephant with the beer bottle," Samantha says to the manager.

"Is this true?" he asks looking at Mei.

"Yes," she says calmly. "He has another bottle as well. I think it is best if you relieve him of his duties since Jeffery can do a better job. He's taken care of hundreds of animals before." She watches as the manager crosses his arms. She looks down feeling the baby's trunk wrap around her neck the baby's ears move back as though trying to get her attention. "I won't let him hurt you anymore," she says softly. She continues to talk softly to the elephant as the manager watches her quietly. "Excuse me," she says taking the baby elephant off in the corner to clean up its wounds.

"Pack your stuff, John. This is the last time you're going to beat my animals."

"You take their word over mine!"

"They aren't the only ones who heard you, John," Catherine says angrily. "To beat a baby whether it's human or not is disgusting!" He pulls from Trowa's grip.

"You'll regret this all of you especially you, Chinese!" He catches Mei's eyes looking at him as he finishes. "Yah you, Chinese!" he growls and finally leaves them.

_**I hope this guy doesn't become an enemy.**_ Jeff watches him leave until Samantha pushes him out of the way.

"Hi, my name is Samantha. What's yours?" she asks Trowa. _**Oh wow! Look at that chest those muscles! He's perfect.**_

"Samantha! You can't be serious. I thought you would have learned your lesson with, Wufei," he says annoyed taking her by the shoulder. Trowa sees Samantha's expression of inquiry change to shyness.

"My name's Trowa," he says calmly glancing at John making sure that he left taking his trailer with him. He watches Samantha's face light up as his eyes return to her. "If you want, I can show you around and you say you know, Wufei."

"Yeah, I know the jerk. I only put up with him because he's Mei's brother," she says annoyed. Trowa looks over at Mei as she patches up Ginger's wounds with giant bandages.

"You'll have to be patient with Wufei," he says softly still looking at Mei. "He's used to being alone, so he comes off cold sometimes."

"Can you believe the only time he's sweet is when he's with his sister."

"Then… she's the only family he has left," Trowa says softly to himself.

"Do you… want to talk to her?" she asks seeing where he's looking. "Do you want to talk to her, Trowa?"

"I'm just surprised how much they look," he says turning to Samantha.

"Oh that. They're twins. Mei said they used to switch places a lot when they were smaller. They're very close even though they were apart for so long."

"I thought Wufei's colony was destroyed during the war."

"There was an incident that separated them before the war started," she says. "They were reunited on their birthday."

_**Why is she here if they were reunited recently? **_He takes the chance to look at Mei again. "Hum."

"Is there a problem," Jeff asks.

"I'm just curious to why Wufei isn't here. I'm sure he wouldn't let his sister go off by herself since he thinks women as weak," he says calmly. Jeff looks at him suspiciously.

"Exactly how long have you known, Wufei?" he asks with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Almost two years," he says.

"Then you don't know him as well as you think now, do you?" he says to Trowa coldly. "Samantha, lets go."

"But, he was going to—"

"We have applications to fill out, remember."

"…Yes, um." She turns to Trowa. "I'm sorry. Maybe later, ok." He watches her leave with her cousin. She takes one last look back at him before meeting Catherine and the Manager.

9

Gundam Wing 4: The Runaways


	5. Chapter 5

_Journey for a New Home_

He watches the clouds cake the sky as his sadness encases his. The clouds move in a steady stream resembling his racing thoughts. Zecks watches Wufei from the building entrance waiting for him to come in. Lady Une walks to the door next to Zecks in time to see it start to rain, but Wufei isn't fazed as he continues to think about his sister.

"He still hasn't moved," Lady Une asks.

"No. He's been out there for hours thinking about his sister." The two continue to watch him as it pours harder. "There hasn't been any calls just text messages," Zecks says crossing his arms. "At least we know she and the others are safe."

"Yes, but for how long." The shower of rain fills in the silence between them as Wufei finally decides to come back in. The two don't say a word as they open the door for him. He slips in completely soaked. He passes everyone without a word passes his desk and goes strait for the bathroom. He finds himself looking at himself in the mirror.

"Dammit," he says balling up his fist. "DAMMIT!" He slams his fist down on the side of the sink. He ignores the pain. "I find her and then I lose her just…just because she wants to protect me." _**All this time… she suffered because of me.**_ He balls up his fists, but before he could slam his fist down again, his cell phone rings. He takes out his phone out of his pocket. Seeing the name, he answers it quickly. "Mei! How are you? Are you ok," he asks quickly. There's a pause before he receives an answer.

"I'm sorry for taking money from you," she says solemnly. He can tell from her voice that she's feeling guilty.

"I don't care about the money. All I care about is you. I need to know where you are," he says softly not to show how eager he is.

"You know I can't do that," she says softly.

"How am I supposed to protect you—?"

"You can't," she says cutting it off. Those words cut through him like a knife. "Just because someone is protecting you doesn't mean you're any less of a man, Wufei."

"I still need to know where you are, so I can at least keep track of you." She sighs.

"If you find and shut down these people's operations so we can be a family again. Don't worry, I'm fine."

"Mei please—!"

"I'm sending you a present, so say hi to Odin for me," she says with a giggle.

"Odin? Who's Odin?" he asks interested thinking this person might give him a clue to where his sister is.

"He'll be the one delivering the present. I'm sure he's keeping tabs on me too as I am on him. Tell him he still owes me an ice cream cone," she says. "I…I promise to pay you back, ok."

"It's ok, Mei. You don't have to pay me back."

"But I have to," she says her voice as though she's about to cry. "I've never taken anything from you without your permission before." Her voice is shaky as she talks. "I promise I won't take anything from you again without your permission."

"If it will ease your mind pay me back in intervals ok," he says softly. "I'm not mad. I give you my word. I'm just worried about you." He pauses. "If you're not going to tell me where you are at least, call me regularly."

"Ok, that's a promise," she says softly. "I'll send you a text. I'm getting better with that."

"Ok," he says with a smile.

"I want you to change out of those wet clothes," she says surprising him.

"How did you—?!"

"I put some spare clothes in the package that's coming today as well as something else," she says interrupting him. "I don't want you to get sick." Her voice is stern as she talks. "I have to go and take Sally out on a date." She hangs up.

"What! Mei, Mei!" He stands there stunned that Mei knew he was out in the rain. "How? Is she using a satellite to track me? If she is then which satellite is it?" He thinks to himself as he leaves the bathroom. Everyone watches him as he goes to his seat seeing that he's lost in thought. "Zecks, do you know which satellite that's close enough to take pictures this building?"

"Yes, it's satellite OS1020162," he says confused. "Did you find out something about where your sister is?"

"Yes, she just called me. She's been watching me with that satellite," he says.

"She has?" Sally says surprised walking to his desk as he tries to get access to the satellite.

"Yes, she just berated me for standing out in the rain, so I know if I find her signal we can find her."

"It won't be that easy." Everyone looks up hearing a familiar voice. The shaggy haired young man wears UPS uniform as he walks up to Wufei's desk.

"Heero," Wufei says standing. _**He can't be Odin can he?**_ Heero places the package on the desk. "Mei says hi and that you owe her an ice cream cone, Odin." There's a split second of surprise that only Wufei catches on his face as the two make eye contact.

"That elephant mind of hers annoys me," he says in a monotone voice. "Tell her to quit spying on me or she can just forget about the ice cream."

"How do you know my sister?"

"It's a long story," Heero says in the same tone of voice. "When I found her she was asleep in an alley, so I took her home. I was around 13 at the time. We trained together under Dr. J until…" He pauses a moment. "I didn't know she was your sister until just recently," Heero says changing the subject. "I'm looking for her too. I gave Quatre a picture of her in case he sees her. I'm pretty sure she's jumping from colony to colony."

"Yes that would make since, but she promised to pay me back. So…she'll have to stop and get a job somewhere."

"I'll help you with the satellite tapping but I doubt she'll use it often. I'll stay with you until then," he says in his usual monotone voice.

"Thanks Heero," Wufei says sitting back down at his desk. "I can really use your help to find her."

Its early evening light in colony L4 sprays lightly in the tearoom of Quatre's house. Max sits in the armchair for the first time able to relax. His mind begins to wonder as he starts to doze. A moment of his past begins to come into focus. He sees his father arguing with Dr. Conner over something in the hallway to one of the patients' rooms. The anger on Dr. Conner's face frightens Max.

"The perfect soldier can and will be made even if we have to use that girl to do it!" Dr. Conner's words make Max angry.

"NO!" he screamed. "You can't! You promised you wouldn't hurt her anymore!"

"Tell your son, Mr. Crawford, to stay out of adult's business," Dr. Conner said coldly.

"He's right. I want that girl returned home. I'll get Dr. Salamander to do it," he said softly.

"But, you can't! She's my only friend here!" he said running up to his father.

"I'm sorry, Max, but it's best if she goes home."

"There's no way I can go back," said a young Chinese woman. Max turned to see his friend with tears in her eyes. "I'm not human anymore."

"What, what do you mean? Of course you're human."

"You, you don't know what they did to me," she cried and then ran.

"Wait, come back!" he called running after her. "Wait! What do you mean! Please, stop running away from me!"

"Max, Max!" Max gasps being jerked awake by his best friend Quatre.

"Quatre," he says closing his eyes breathing a sigh of relief before looking at him again.

"Max, are you, ok?"

"It was just… a bad memory," he says softly to his friend. He looks down, but he feels compelled to tell. "It was after you got back a little after a year after the war started. Dad checked me into one of his facilities for a while before you came back."

"Why would he check you into a psychiatric word?"

"I, I don't know why he listened to that doctor. That doctor lied on me and said I needed psychiatric help," he says with a sigh. "He always listened to Dr. Conner until I told him about Mei and how they were treating her."

_**Mei?**_ "What happened while you were there?" Quatre asks hoping he can figure out the reason for the animosity between Max and his father.

"At first everything was normal. I became friends with a Chinese girl named Mei. She would always kind to me, but I could tell she'd been there a while. Then, I started to notice that some of the patients started to go missing."

"Missing?"

"Yeah, so I managed to sneak out of my room one night. I followed one of the doctors at the facility to see if I can find a reason for the disappearances. Instead, I found what looked like a secret lab and that's when I saw them and Mei scream for them to leave her alone. She kept crying out 'No more! No more!'" Quatre listens amazed unable to believe his ears. Max balls up his fist in anger. "They were doing some kind of experiment using liquid Gundanium," he says in an airy voice, but his words alarm Quatre.

"Liquid Gundanium!"

"I tried to stop them," he says misery in his voice but they…I guess they knocked me out because I can't remember anything thing after what I saw. I don't even remember checking out of the facility. I, I don't know what they did to me."

"What they did to you? What do you mean?"

"It's hard to explain, but ever since then, I've been getting ill," Max says softly.

"I see." Quatre thinks a moment. "I can get my sister to do some tests on you. Maybe we can find what's wrong."

"Thanks, Quatre. I don't know what I'd do without you," he says. "I just…I just wish I knew what happened to Mei. She…all she wanted was to go home to see her brother on their birthday."

_**So they're twins. Could Max's Mei be Wufei's twin sister? **_"Do you wish to rest in the guest room," he asks getting his friend's attention. "There are fresh warm sheets upstairs."

"Warms sheets, huh…? So, how long are you going to keep spoiling me? If I get used to it, I might never leave."

"So, you're going to try and talk to your father?" Quatre asks.

"After that nightmarish memory, I, I think I should."

"Nightmarish memory?"

"It was about Mei and the scientist that caused me to end up in the psychiatric word in the first place. Father was talking to him about sending her home, but she ran off," he says. "Maybe father knows what happened to her."

"How about you get some rest first and then we'll call." There's a moment of silence as Max gets up. "I wish I knew what was happening between you two," Quatre says with a sigh. "You have to promise to talk to him. Do you want me to accompany you?"

"Ok, if you insist on dragging it out," he says still looking down. "I just wish I knew why he resents me now."

"That's ridiculous, Max. I'm sure it's something else." _**I'm sure it's something else. It's not like Mr. Crawford act that way without a reason. **_ Max sighs and eventually agrees to his friend's request. "Besides I'm sure you've been working too hard as well."

"Ok, ok, I give in," he says with a sigh. The two look at each other in silence. "Don't look at me with those puppy eyes, and where's my ring?" Max asks crossing his arms.

"R, R, Ring?" Quatre asks surprised.

"Yes, you're on one knee aren't you?"

"No, I didn't—!" Max slips out of the chair and hugs Quatre around the neck. "What are you doing, MAX!" he asks uneasily as Max strokes Quatre's hair playfully.

"Now don't be shy. I'll be gentle." Quatre blushes embarrassed.

"Cut it out, Max! That's not funny! I'm not that way. I already told you that!" Quatre says angrily. Max just laughs.

"I know. I'm just teasing you because you don't even have a girlfriend yet. When are you going to get out of that stuffy office and find a woman?" he says with a smile.

"When I find one I'll let you know?" he says breaking his friend's chokehold. "Besides when work starts to let up, I'll start." The two friends stand up.

"That might be too late besides you have to get married a make an heir to your thrown young prince." Max heads toward the door as Quatre leads the way.

"I'm not a prince," he says.

"Then what do you call them!" Max says pointing to the Maganac corps as some walk through the hallways. "This is you court." He pushes Quatre forward playfully.

"They're just good friends."

"I don't know. How about some tea before you tuck me in?"

"Tea sounds nice," Quatre says ignoring the last of what his friend said.

It's midday and the circus is in training for their first show in the L4 colony. It's been three months since Samantha, Jeff, and Mei has been a part of the circus. They begin to enjoy the life there. However, the baby elephant that Mei took so much care of fell ill right after John, the man that abused the baby elephant was fired. The baby elephant died two week after the incident. Mei took the death of the baby harder than everyone.

Trowa takes his chance to get close to her to find out if Mei really is Wufei's sister. He decides to look for Mei to talk to her. It doesn't take him long to find her. She's in her usual place among the animal cages in the fetal position. He takes his time walking up to her. He can tell by her puffy red eyes that she's been crying. She doesn't look up as he sits down next to her. He sits there a moment before deciding to talk.

"Why?" she says before he could say anything. He turns at her comment.

"Hum?"

"Why didn't it work on her like it did my brother?" Trowa watches her a moment before deciding to try and speak again.

"It's not your fault." She looks up startled until she sees who it is.

"Oh, it's you, Trowa," she says despondently and distant. He couldn't help but recognize the expression on her face as one that was once on Wufei's face after his duel with Treize during the war. "For a moment, I thought it was Jeffery." Her voice trails off as she looks down. Tears stream down her face. "I should have stopped him from coming on circus grounds when I saw him then none of this would have happened."

"Even if you did stop him, he most likely would have tried again later," he says in his usual calm soft tone. "You can't be everywhere at once, Mei."

"I…I know but…I should have tried harder then she wouldn't be…" She turns his way as she looks down. She hesitates before she loses herself in her grief to cry on his chest. He easily notices that she hesitates. _**What am I doing? **_ Embarrassed, she curls up in a ball. _**He's not him. He's not Wufei. I can't get attached. I can't get attached to any more people.**_

"It's ok. Crying on me isn't a weakness," he says feeling sympathy for her but his face hardly shows how he feels.

"This is the second time I couldn't do anything, anything at all," she finds herself saying. "I try so hard, but it doesn't seem to help."

"You shouldn't blame yourself for circumstances that you can't control," he says. "You had no idea he was going to poison the food." She faces Trowa again but doesn't make eye contact with him as tears continue to pour down her face.

"I know but…I…" Trowa instantly knows something's wrong as she passes out. He quickly goes over to assess her carefully.

"Mei, Mei!" he calls shaking her but he doesn't receive an answer. He checks for a pulse and finds one, but he quickly notices she feels hot. _**She has a fever.**_ He carefully lifts her up. He easily carries her to his trailer and opens the door carrying her inside. He doesn't look up as his guardian enters his trailer soon after.

"Trowa, what happened?" she asks concerned as he lays her on the bed.

"She's sick. I was talking to her when she collapsed." He pauses. "She still blames herself for what happened to Ginger," he says covering her up. "She needs to rest. That's all I can do for her, Cathy."

"It would have been better if you put her in the trailer she shares with Jeff and Sam."

"They went shopping. They won't be back for hours."

"I'll go see if there's some medicine left," Catherine say and leaves quickly.

"Pilot…zero 3." Her voice is a soft whisper causing him to sit down on the bed unsure if he heard right. "Trowa Barton…Pilot…zero 1 Odin Lowe Jr."

_**Odin Lowe?**_ Trowa listens as she continues.

"Pilot…zero 5 Wufei…" Mei starts to become restless in bed. "Wufei…can't stay…must protect him…Wufei…" Her breathing becomes rapid. He tries to wake her as she moves her head back and forth quickly.

"Mei, Mei, wake up!" he calls. _**How does she know about us?**_ He stops shaking her as her eyes open halfway. "Mei, Mei, are you ok?"

"Pilot…zero 2 unknown." He notices that she's in some kind of a trance. "Pilot…zero…4 un…known…" she says as her eyes close again. Her breathing returns to normal.

"Mei, can you hear me?" he asks curious to what she'll say next, but at the same time more suspicious of her.

"Huh?" She opens her eyes halfway again, but this time she seems to be aware of her surroundings. Her eyes scan the room until they land on Trowa. "Trowa?"

"You passed out while we were talking," he says calmly.

"Where am I?" she asks softly.

"My trailer, it was closer."

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to cause you any trouble, Trowa," she says pulling the covers up to her chain.

"Don't worry about it. Rest for now, Mei."

"I can't stay for long, ok," she says avoiding eye contact almost shy like. "Why is it that you keep following me?" He closes his eyes and produces a smile.

"So, you noticed."

"Yeah, I had a friend who would do the same thing. I didn't like it, and I still don't," she says sternly looking at him losing her shy childish attitude. "I suggest you stop, now!" She looks down. "Or, someone…someone will get hurt and I don't want that…not for anyone here," she says as she sits up. "I gotta go."

"You should rest until your friends come back," Trowa says not showing any sign of understanding what she just said. He stops her by saying, "You seem to know a lot about the Gundam pilots."

"That is of no concern to you," she says sternly. "I won't tell you again." He watches her intense stare as she continues. "You're a nice guy, Trowa, but you're too damn nosy," she says getting out of bed. "You're better off looking the other way."

"We don't do that here, and you're not like that either."

"Well, I'm asking you to…just pretend I'm not there."

"I can't do that especially when you're sick." She makes it to the door.

"I appreciate your help," Mei says as she leaves. He soon hears Catherine's voice. He doesn't hesitate to go to the door as she gives Mei a bottle of medicine.

_**What are you hiding, Mei, and how do you know so much about us? I doubt Wufei would have told her that much. I need a way to talk to Wufei.**_ He moves away from the door and back to the bed and finds something half covered by the sheets. As he comes closer, he moves the sheets and sees that it's a phone. "Hum…" _**Let's see if you're telling the truth, Mei. **_He picks up the phone and sticks it in his pocket as he hears Catherin coming up the stairs.

6

Gundam Wing 5: Journey for a New Home 


	6. Chapter 6

The Metal Dragon

The piles of papers have finally diminished from Quatre's desk with the help of Max. He breathes a sigh of relief that he's done, but as he watches Max's face, he remembers how Mr. Crawford refused to talk to them yesterday.

"Did you get the test results?" Max asks breaking the silence in Quatre's medium-sized office.

"Yes, but it didn't show any abnormalities."

"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing," Max says with a sigh. He sits in front of Quatre's desk leaning back in the chair staring out the giant window behind Quatre who sits across from him. A man comes in holding several packages and mail.

"Packages for Mr. Winner."

"Thanks, put them in the corner, please," Quatre says as the mail is placed on his desk. He takes the letters that were on top of the packages and takes the one off of the top.

"Let's go some place," Max says as his friend opens one of his letters.

"Today's not my birthday, Max," Quatre says taking out two tickets for the circus.

"Hum, I know. It's not till several months from now. Little Quatre's going to turn 20," Max teases trying to lighten up.

"A few months now and I'm not little," he says but not in an angry way. "So, you didn't get me these tickets." Max looks over as he holds up two circus tickets.

"No," he says surprised to see them. "Well, we do have time since all the work is done might as well go, right?"

"If you didn't send these tickets, who did?" Quatre asks reading the note again. "This isn't your handwriting but the signature looks like yours."

"It is?" he asks getting up from his seat. Quatre hands him the letter for him to read. _**Maybe Quatre has a secret admirer, but why go through the trouble of pretending to be me?**_ He starts reading.

**Hey it's Max. I know it's been a while so I wanted to go something for you for your birthday. You look like the type to like this kind of stuff. Enjoy the tickets, ok.**

**Love,**

**Maxwell Crawford**

"Love!" Max exclaims surprised jumping up. A chuckle from Quatre annoys him. "That's not funny! If Dorothy got a hold of this, she's skin me alive!"

"Dorothy? Dorothy Catalonia," Quatre says in shock. He pauses a moment. "So, she's this special secret?"

"Hey, don't judge me! You don't even have a girlfriend."

"…Yeah, I know," he says with a sigh making Max feel guilty.

"Hey, I'm sorry, Quatre. I shouldn't have said that."

"No, it's ok." He stands up. _**Max's right.**_ _**I do work too much but…someone has to keep my father's business going. It was his legacy.**_

"It's ok to take a break every once in a while." He places a hand on Quatre's shoulder and smiles. The two smile. "Let's sneak in and find out if anyone knows this handwriting.

"That won't be necessary," Quatre says with a smile. "I have a friend in the circus that can help us. Max's eyes light up but it quickly switches to suspicion.

"He's not your new best friend is he?"

"Now don't start," he says heading out the door. Max follows closely.

"Well?"

"He was a Gundam pilot like me. We're _only_ friends. You're my only best friend, Max, so there's no need to get jealous," Quatre says waiting for what he just said to sink into his friend's mind."

"Really?! Come on then," he says pulling Quatre down the hall. "The circus isn't too far from here."

"Max, don't pull me. The circus isn't going anywhere!" Quatre says but as always Max only pulls hard. "You're going to end up getting hurt again if you don't slow down!"

Wufei types eagerly at his desk after finding out more about the organization that captured his sister. It took him six weeks to find out about The Metals Corporation, a small company that does research on bio-weapons. The company was bought out by the Crawford foundation five years ago. Mr. Crawford married the sister of the head of Metals Corp. Maria Barton.

_**The Barton Foundation…it all leads back to operation meteor. I can't believe how obvious it was.**_ A sharp pain in his arm forces him to type slower until it's too much to type. He holds his arm a moment before he starts to flex it.

"Is something wrong, Wufei?" Noin asks concerned noticing that his arm's bothering him.

"It's nothing. I was just typing too long, that's all," he says not noticing Heero entering the room.

"It could be something more serious." Wufei turns to the voice behind him.

"Something more serious?" Noin asks.

"Did your sister cut you in any time she was with you?" Heero asks.

"Cut me?" Wufei thinks back remembering the day Mei left. That morning he had a hard time waking her. And found two chips in her hair. He plucked the object and found the second one only it seemed to be growing out of her head. He looked at it shocked as he watched it, he became even more worried. When Wufei touched the chips in her hair, her hair wrapped around his hand and wrist. He ignored the pain as the hair begins to slice into him like sharp strands of metal. "Yes, she cut me on accident with her hair."

"Her hair, but that's impossible," Noin asks taken aback by his words.

"I know, but that's what happened," Wufei says feeling his arm become heavy like an iron bar.

"Some of the Gundanium in her hair must have been transported into your bloodstream. Too little or too much in your system can kill you. The hospital is your best bet to live," Heero says. "Come on. I'll take you there."

"No, I can't. I have to finish. I have to find who's responsible for this, so I can get my sister to come back home," he says going back to his computer.

"Wufei, you should listen to Heero," Noin says placing a hand on his shoulder. "You want Mei to come back to someone, don't you?" He stops hearing those words. There's a long pause before he stands up.

"Ok," he says finally giving in. "If she calls, tell her that I'm sick nothing else…I don't want her to blame herself." He takes one step and doubles over in pain. He clutches his chest paralyzed in pain. _**I've never felt pain like this before.**_

"Wufei!" Many of his colleagues run to his side.

"Someone call an ambulance!" Lady Un runs to the nearest phone.

_**Lie down, Wufei. It will be easier on you.**_ Wufei tries to look around but the pain is too severe.

"Mei?" he manages to say softly before passing out.

"Wufei!" Noin calls but receives no reply. She checks for a pulse, but has a hard time finding it. Heero kneels down next to him and turns Wufei on his back. She starts CPR to make. "Come on Wufei stay with me."

"Wait," Heero says making her stop. He checks for a pulse, but it's still weak. "His breathing's fine but his pulse is still weak. We have to find the Gundanium soon, or he'll stop breathing again."

"What do you need me to do?" Noin asks eager to save her friend.

"The Gundanium should be in the limb that causes him the most pain."

"His right arm was causing him the most pain recently." Noin says picking up his arm and finds a giant lump on his wrist.

"Once it's removed, it should get his heart back to it regular rhythm." The room becomes quiet hearing the cock of a gun behind Heero.

"Move away from, Wufei!" Sally says loud and clear. "Stand up, and turn around slowly."

"Sally, what are you doing?" Un says surprised by her actions toward Heero.

"That thing's not Heero," she says staying as calm as she can.

"Very observant and rude calling me a thing," he says coldly standing up as his voice changes deeper. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to kill someone else today, but you've got on my bad side."

"What were you going to do with the Gundanium once you removed it," Sally asks boldly.

"Find the girl of course. That troublesome girl seems to have removed all my tracking devices out of her skull," he says dully. "Once I find little Mei, I'll come back for big brother here." He laughs and then focuses on Sally. "A gun is uncalled for."

"You're him aren't you? You're Dr. Conner the one who kidnapped Mei." He looks at her surprised a moment before giving her a pleasant smile.

"Oh, did little Mei mention me? I'm surprised she talked about me to anyone. I thought for sure I beat it out of her," he says flatly making everyone sick to their stomachs.

"She didn't. She talks in her sleep when she's stressed," Sally says coldly.

"I hope you know I can save your friend's life."

"I said move away!"

"You're not as dumb as I thought you were." There's a long silence with no one moving. "Fine then." Before anyone could move, he changes his arm into two sharp sickles placing one to Noin's throat. "Are you sure you want to shoot, my dear." He brings the other one down and through the middle of Wufei's right wrist.

"Stop!" she calls aiming the gun at his head.

"Then put the gun down or someone dies," he says coldly. Sally hesitates. "Put it down, or your friend loses her head!" She finally gives in and places the gun on the table next to her. "Now be a good girl and move away from the table." She does as asked.

"What do you want with the liquid Gundanium?" Noin asks.

"It will hold a clue to where her location is."

_**Where her location is? How? **_Noin doesn't get to ask her question. Heero comes in holding something in his arms despite being beaten and bruised. His clothes are ripped on the verge of being shredded.

"Heero…!"

"I think you dropped something," he says without a hint of pain in his voice.

"How are you still alive?!" Dr. Conner asks still looking like Heero's double but with a surprised look on his face. "I practically beat you to a pulp, boy."

"I pretended to be knocked out," Heero says staring at his look alike that slowly changes to a rounded face and a slender body with a little muscle. Noin tries to access a way to Wufei, but the blade of the intruder slashes her neck.

"Noin!" Sally and Un go over to help.

"No one touches the boy," Dr. Conner says uncaring as Noin gasps for air gargling on her own blood. "Until I'm done getting the information I need from him." He doesn't pay attention to the silver matter that escapes from the wound in Wufei's wrist.

"What's that?" Sally asks herself trying to make sense out of what she's seeing. She watches it as it grows. _**That must be the liquid Gundanium.**_ It spills out into a ball like shape. It shines like newly made steel, but with the consistency of mercury.

"I suggest you stay where you are too," Dr. Conner says to Sally as the Gundanium seems to move on its own pulling itself from Wufei's body. Sally watches it change shape. The shape catches Heero's attention. "What are you looking at boy?" He turns his attention to what everyone is watching. He is shocked to see an angry dragon bearing down at him. "What?!"

"Did that come from Wufei?" Un asks putting pressure on Noin's neck who's still having trouble breathing but the bleeding has slowed. The doctor moves out of the way of the angry dragon's claws.

"How can he control the Gundanium so easily?!" he asks in disbelief. The dragon lunges at him again this time with teeth and claws and easily rips into him. He hollers in pain, but his scream isn't human. He pulls away from the silver dragon. Everyone can see the Gundanium being pulled from the doctor's body. He backs up severing the connection. "That's impossible… he shouldn't be that advanced already." The dragon attacks again and Dr. Conner transforms into a lion and retaliates. His roar is deafening as he rips into the dragon and the dragon rips into him. Blood splatters everywhere and everyone closest to the fighting blood from both the dragon and lion.

"Hum…" _**This doesn't look good if that blood's from Wufei.**_ Heero watches intensely like everyone else as they rip the flesh off each other turning the situation desperate. At the last second, Dr. Conner lunges at Noin and Un. His massive paws slap Un away ripping into her arm and pounces on Noin to finish her off.

"No!" Sally runs back to the table and grabs her gun and shoots several times at the lion with no effect. The dragon easily plucks the lion off her like pulling a leaf off a tree branch throwing him into a nearby desk. With the lion not moving, he switches his attention to Noin. He grabs a hold of Noin's neck as Sally comes over. "What are you doing?!" Sally calls grabbing the dragon's arm. "Wufei, Stop!" She becomes worried seeing Noin pass out. He looks directly at her responding to his name. As he releases her neck, he leaves behind pieces of Gundanium on her skin. A patchwork of the metal covers only her deepest wounds.

"She'll be fine," Heero says kneeling down checking how strong her pulse is.

"Are you sure?" she asks as Heero moves to Un to put pressure on her wounds.

"Yes, he's stopped her from bleeding out, but I don't know how long," Heero says. She turns her attention back to the silver dragon who hasn't taken its eyes off of her. The dragon reaches out his claw taking her arm startling her. He turns her arm some. "It's ok, Wufei. She isn't injured." Sally observes the two. "You protected her." That's when he spies Un's arm. He quickly goes to help, but she stops him.

"My scratch isn't that bad," Un says. "You're exhausted. You need your rest, Wufei."

"She's right, you need your rest, Wufei," Sally says softly touching his claw. He instantly makes eye contact with her. He unexpectedly reaches out and softly touches the right side of her face. The moment is short lived by his sudden removal of his claw like he touched hot glass. His attention is captured by something the others can't see. "What wrong?" She asks still in wonder of his earlier actions.

"Wufei?" Un calls but she receives no reaction from him. Heero is the first to notice the settle movements from within the Gundanium that connected it to Wufei's body and the little hands that gripped the arm of the dragon the same arm whose claw that was pulled away from Sally's face rather quickly.

"Hum...he's not alone," Heero says suddenly. Everyone's bewildered by what he says until the dragon grabs one of the hands and pulls the child into view of the others as he gives the child an unheard angry growl. The frightened child tries to get out of the dragon's grip. _**That child… she looks exactly like how she looked on the day we first met only smaller… Is this how she keeps track of him? …and me?**_ "Mei?"

"What?" Sally looks at the child. "Are you telling us this is—?"

"That's how Mei looked when we first met only she was a little older," he says his voice and expression lifeless.

"But, she looks like a smaller version of Wufei," Lady Un says.

"They're twins though fraternal they look very much alike and can easily be mistaken for the other," he says softly. "Dr. Conner was after Wufei not Mei when she was kidnapped."

"Yes, that's what she told us when we rescued her," Zechs says joining the group. "The ambulance just pulled up but there's a lion outside that's holding them up." He walks up to the child as the dragon writes something on the child's hand with his claw. She flinches as he writes on her little hand in Chinese. When he finishes, he moves away from her letting her pull away. She watches the dragon as it makes its way back into his body. As he descends back, she goes after him but stops as his injuries surface.

"Oh no, Wufei!" Sally says running to his side as the child tries to wake Wufei. She looks up at Sally, but as she starts to rub her little hands over Wufei's wounds, Sally grabs her hand. "Please Mei, I need to stop the bleeding, ok?" She looks up at Sally and takes her hand. "This isn't the time for play."

"Wait Sally," Zecks says stopping her. "Let her help." She looks at him a moment and decides to let her help. She lets little Mei move her hand to the center of Wufei's body. She watches as Mei puts both of her hands on hers and the Gundanium from little Mei's metal body pills on her brother like pouring a glass of milk. The metal immediately finds his wound as rain finds every crevice to hide after a rainstorm. Mei stops and quickly gives Sally a hug. A big smile appears on her face as any child would have when proud of something they've accomplished.

_**Something's not right here.**_ Heero watches Zecks suspiciously easily noticing that Dr. Conner wasn't in the room anymore or at least he hoped he wasn't in the room.

Its midday on the circus grounds and everyone has finished rehearsal for the evening show. The manager goes over the details one last time before letting them all go off for lunch break. Trowa starts off for his trailer thinking about confirming Jeff and Samantha's stories about Mei being Wufei's sister. He hadn't had a chance to talk to Wufei due to helping Samantha and Jeff learn how to do circus tricks and routines. Mei didn't need much teaching and did her best to keep her distance from him. He carefully makes his way up to his trailer and stops to take a look behind him in case the black fox he's be seeing lately doesn't grab a hold of his leg as he opens his door and jolt in.

He finds it strange that it only comes to his trailer and no one else. He makes it to the door and turns the doorknob but instead of opening the door, he looks back only to see the fox wasn't around. His mind returns to wanting to what he was contemplating earlier. He opens the door and starts to go in he feels something latch on to his right leg. He doesn't show his surprise as he looks down. The fox digs its hind legs into his calf and jumps off of it to his trailer. Trowa however is just as fast managing to grab the fox around the middle. The fox cries out as though it's being beaten to death.

"It's ok, I won't hurt you," he says holding the fox close to his body to stop its shaking as he pets the animal's head. He makes the rest of his ascend into his trailer still holding the fox in his arms. He continues to pet the fox's head until its shaking stops. "So you're girl, huh," he says glancing down. With both paws, she places them on the thick bangs that usually cover half of his face so that it covers both eyes. "Ok, I won't look again," he says as somewhat of a smile crosses his face. The two look up hearing a knock on the door. The fox escapes his hands as he gets up to answer the door.

"Hi Trowa," says a familiar blonde with kind blue green eyes.

"Quatre?" His eyes soften from their normal lifeless exterior seeing his friend. "It's nice to see you, and I see you brought a friend," he says noticing his reddish black haired brown eyed friend next to him.

"Yes. We were hoping that you can help us with something," he says as Trowa opens his door letting the two casual clothed gentlemen inside.

"Of course, what do you need," Trowa says noticing the fox is out of sight.

"Quatre received a letter from someone posing as me giving him two circus tickets. We were hoping you might recognize the handwriting," Max says as he hands him the letter. Trowa looks at the note carefully.

"The handwriting does look familiar," he says.

"Really! You know who handwriting that is?" Max says excitedly.

"Yes, she's the one that did the flyers that are posted all over this colony."

_**Her? There's only one person who knows about my crush on Quatre and that's Mei. That means she managed to escape.**_ Max gives a sigh of relief. _**I have to talk to her and find out if there's a possibility to why my father's acting the way he is.**_

"Can we speak to her?" Quatre asks seeming to read Max's mind.

"You might not be able too," he says receiving shock from their faces but he continues, "She's been sick lately and has only gone out to do her showing with the strongman."

"How is she?" Max asks worried.

"I don't know," Trowa says interested in his sudden interest in the girl.

"Do you think you know her, Max?"

"Yeah, it has to be Mei. She's the only person I told that I liked you." He looks over at Trowa. "Can you at least direct us to where she's staying? I think we can take it from here unless you want to come with us." Trowa can see the eagerness in Max's eyes and a thoughtful look in Quatre's face.

"I am curious myself how she is right," he says thinking quizzically. _**Maybe I can get some information out of her finally.**_

"Ok, let's go," Max says sternly. "Mei has to be taught a lesson, so she doesn't do this again."

"Max, it's not that serious," Quatre says surprised how serious he's taking the situation. "If she's not feeling well, we should let her rest after we talk to her." Max looks at him a moment and gives in. "Ok, I guess I can wait till she's well." He turns his attention to Trowa. "How long will the circus be here in this colony?"

"It usually depends on the business we get here," Trowa replies.

"Oh, I see," Quatre says thinking.

"Planning something special, Quatre?"

"Yes, I was thinking about booking the circus for a day as to reward the Maganac Corp for all the help they've given me with the new building and handy work. "I want it to be a surprise."

"If you wanted it to be a surprise, why didn't you just come down here by yourself?" Max asks.

"I didn't want them to get suspicious. Sometimes they follow me and they ruin the surprise I try and give them. I knew if I let you drag me here they wouldn't follow."

"How dare you use me like that Quatre," Max pouts turning his back on his friend. Trowa watches as Quatre closes his eyes and sighs.

"I think this is a good time to go check up on your friend, Trowa," Quatre says ignoring his friend's pouts. "Is her trailer close by?"

"Yes, it's about three yards from here," Trowa says moving towards the door. "Follow me I'll show you where it is." Max doesn't notice they're gone until he hears the door close.

"Hey! Don't leave me!" he cries poking his head out of Trailer.

"Is it ok just to leave him in there?"

"It's best to ignore him when he's like this," Quatre says softly as they make it down from the entrance door and head to their destination.

"You seem use to this type of behavior?" Trowa says interested by his friend's behavior.

"He doesn't act like this often, but it's best not to accommodate him when he's like this. It's better to just ignore him."

"This is a side of you I've never seen before, Quatre," Trowa says looking over at him.

"Well, I rarely ever have to show this side of me," he says with his usual kind smile that Trowa remembered so well. "Oh, I'm sorry, Trowa. I forgot to ask. How you were doing?"

"Business has been doing well, but everyone is still feeling the loss of Ginger the youngest of our elephants," he says softly concerned.

"What happened?"

"We found out that one of our trainers was beating the animals. Mei caught him in the act and the manager fired him on the spot, but he came back and poisoned the elephant food as revenge. All the elephants became sick, but Ginger wasn't strong enough to recover. She wasn't even a year old…I'm guessing that was one of the factors to why she didn't make it.

"That's horrible," he says sadly. "Who could do such a horrible thing?"

"Since then, Jeffery has become the new trainer, but Mei's taking it the hardest. You see Mei personally took care of little Ginger like she was her mother." He pauses a moment. "I really think Ginger thought of Mei as her real mother. She'd always followed Mei everywhere she went."

"I see…" There's a long pause. "I think I remember Max reading something about that," Quatre says softly.

"She's like her brother and tends to go off by herself. Sometimes I'll catch her training by herself."

"So, she knows Marshal Arts," Quatre says looking slightly upward as they continue forward glad that the subject changed to something relatively normal. "Is something wrong, Trowa?" Quatre asks noticing he's looking to the ground as they stop in front of Jeffery's trailer.

"She pushes herself much too hard."

"You're worried about her." Trowa nods his head.

"I just hope she's the same Mei Heero said to keep an eye out for."

"Heero talked to you about her?" Trowa asks looking up surprised but his face stays calm as though frozen in time.

"Yes, he told me to keep an eye out for her."

"Hum...I see," he says thoughtfully. If Heero knows her, then she might just be who she says she is.

"Quatre!"

"Yes?" he responds to his friend's call as he runs over to them.

"Why'd you leave me?" Max complains.

"Well, we're here," Quatre says changing the subject. "If she's the same Mei from your father's facility, then this visit should make her feel better."

"Ah man, now I wish I had a card for her you know, um..." Max pauses and glances back at Trowa not noticing the black and orange fox behind him that climbs the stairs to the trailer. _**What's that damn fox doing here?**_

"What's the matter Max?" Quatre asks seeing a scowl on his best friend's face.

"I remember that fox. He was one of the animals at my father's main facility." Trowa's attention switches to Max knowing for a fact the fox at the door is female.

"I didn't know they had animals."

"Yeah they were supposed to help patients with depression get well." He pauses. "It was the animals that started to disappear first," Max says forgetting Trowa was with them. "I didn't notice but Mei did. She noticed a lot of things and it made her cry a lot."

_**Poor, Mei, she went through so much.**_ "I can only imagine the pain she must have gone through."

"Yeah," Max says slowly making his way up the steps as the fox tries to open the door with surprising skill and easily enters, but as he makes it to the door, the fox slams the door in Max's face. "HEY!"

"Max, settle down," Quatre says helplessly as his friend starts to pound on the door in anger. He runs up the stairs to his friend to stop him from making a ruckus. "MAX!" Trowa follows after Quatre.

"Don't think you can hide from me you mangy MUTT!" Max yells. Just as he is about to do another round of yelling, the door is roughly pushed open.

"What's your deal man banging on my door like you own the place? I just got Mei to go to sleep!" the young man yells angrily as his Parana like teeth show the degree of his furry. "I swear if you wake her I'll break you both in half, got it!" His red cat eyes lock on to Max and Quatre startling them. The two friends take a step back nearly falling backwards due to Trowa stopping them from behind. Trowa manages to keep his stone face though he finds what he sees hard to believe. Attacked to the back of his bold head is a thick smooth tail that hangs down like a ponytail.

"Jeffery, who's at the door?" asks a female voice.

"Jeff?" Trowa says a hint of surprises in his voice as Jeff turns a moment to listen to his cousin. His eyes focus on Jeff and notice his pointed fingers that look almost claw like. "Jeff."

"Huh?" He turns, but as his eyes focus on Trowa, he gasps. "Oh-my-God! Tr, Trowa, I didn't see you there," Jeff says nervously his skin on his body turning magenta. _**AHHA Mei's going to kill me for showing my real face. **_"Um…why don't you all come in," he says moving aside so they all can enter. He quickly locks the door behind them and rests his head on the door. _**Man…I totally screwed up.**_

"Jeff…wha, what did they do to you," Max asks his own voice shaking. Quatre hears the hurt in his friend's voice and can tell he feels in a way responsible for what happened to Jeff.

"…I don't know." There's a pause with Jeff's voice is hardly audible but manages to reach everyone in the room. "I don't know what they did to me," he says softly not moving from his spot at the door.

"I can't believe Dad isn't trying to stop those people!" Max says angrily looking around the trailer that had a small kitchen behind him connected to a sink and dishwasher. To his left, there's a small room, and as he peeks through the door, he can see a sink and a toilet. To his right is a bunk bed next to another room, but this time the door is closed hindering any view of the contents inside.

"Believe me, your dad tried his best," Jeff says softly finally moving away from the door his eyes human now but still magenta in color as he moves to the long coffee table in the center of the room. "That's why they took him prisoner and performed some of the most painful experiments on him."

"What?" Max says shaken. He sits unable to stand anymore. Quatre sits down next to his friend at the table. _**That means all this time. That man I've been calling my father wasn't him at all. It makes so much sense.**_

"He's not…" Quatre says but stops himself unable to say the word.

"He's alive, but he's in Preventer's protection," Jeff says deciding to sit down with the rest of them. Trowa soon follows suit sitting down. "Where are you staying right now? I can tell your dad where you are, and he can write you."

"You know where my dad is?" Max says snapping out of his shock about his dad. "You have to tell me where he is."

"No, it's too dangerous to go where he is or call him yourself Max." Jeff looks down unable to stand to see the hurt in Max's face. "…I know you don't want them to find him, so I want you to stay with your lover here and I—?" Quatre places a hand on his friend's shoulder for comfort.

"Lover!" Quatre says angrily crossing his arms stopping Jeff in midsentence making Max shutter. "I thought you said you only told Mei that you were in love with me!" This shocks both Trowa and Jeff.

"I, I did. I promise. Quatre's not that way Jeff. That's why he's upset." Max pauses. "Mostly because… I've been teasing him about it lately."

"Oh, you mean how you did with me and nearly got your face pounded in when Mei and I were together," Jeff says remembering annoyed.

"…Yeah that," Max laughs but he quickly stops. "What the hell man! Why'd you breakup with Mei!"

"That's between Mei and me. Wait a minute, how do you know I broke up with Mei?" Jeff says rising an eyebrow noticing that Quatre's anger was short lived.

"How could you do something like that to her?"

"Keep your voice down please. Mei's trying to sleep," he says softly and then turns to Quatre. He holds out his hand. "Forgive my rudeness. My name is Jeffery Salamander."

"My name is Quatre Raberba Winner."

"Winner? No way. My dad works for your company," Jeff says. "My family lives in this colony, so I was able to visit them.

"Did you tell your family?" Max asks.

"Yeah…they know," Jeff says softly.

"What's the matter they accepted you…didn't they?" Max asks.

"Yeah, but…" There's a pause. "But, my little sister…she's scared of me."

"Sorry, Jeff, I shouldn't have asked," Max says softly.

"It's ok. They came to the show yesterday and they enjoyed themselves at least," he says with a small smile. A cell phone rings and everyone looks around. "Whose phone is that?" Trowa spots aqua colored phone halfway under the coffee table that he didn't notice before. He picks up the phone and answers it.

"Hello?"

10

10

Gundam Wing 6: The Metal Dragon


End file.
